Perceptions
by BlueDragonus
Summary: [AU] The threads of fate of each individual are woven together, each person's destiny linked to another's... how different would things have been, if different words had been spoken, if different events had taken place?
1. Dawn

Blood. The walls were stained with it, the wooden floor rendered unrecognizable, taking on a new hue of red. Doors had been slashed, kicked from their positions, wall scrolls hung loosely from their hooks. The moonlight, a dark red, streamed in through the windows, illuminating the bodies that littered the floor, hiding a man's face in shadow.

Uchiha Sasuke stood in horror, disbelieving, staring at the man he had always idolized, the one man he had always believed in throughout his life. And there he stood, a specter in the endless darkness, his crimson eyes gleaming and dilated, his bloodied sword hanging loose in his hand.

Sasuke was paralyzed with fear, unable to speak or to move. His mind burned with questions, racing; his heart pounded painfully in his chest. He blanched as Itachi raised his eyes, then turned slowly to face him. In that instant, Itachi's eyes locked onto Sasuke's, and irrational fear pierced his soul. He was next, he knew it, he was going to die, die just as his parents had. His gaze flickered to the bodies of his parents on the floor. His mother lay sprawled on the floor, face up, her eyes shut, a long gaping slash across her chest. His father lay on top of her, eyes wide, blood still streaming out of his mouth.

Sasuke closed his eyes, and waited to die. He heard footsteps – Itachi was getting closer. He heard the clatter of the ANBU sword, heard the sound of blood dripping to the floor. Itachi was silent, he said nothing. Nothing to justify his killing of the Uchihas. The footsteps came to a stop in front of him and Sasuke tensed up, knowing that soon the cold metal blade of his brother's sword would slice through his body, and then it would all be over.

Suddenly, there was a loud clatter – the sword had dropped to the ground. Sasuke risked opening his eyes, wondering what had happened. Had someone, perhaps, killed his brother and saved his life?

His eyes widened at the spectacle before him. Uchiha Itachi knelt on the floor in front of him, his sword flung unceremoniously to a side. His eyes, now dark as the night, were gleaming with tears. He reached out with a hand, and placed it on Sasuke's shoulder, smiling grimly as his younger brother flinched at his touch.

"I'm sorry, dear brother... I failed to protect our mother." He choked, tears spilling down his bloodstained face. Sasuke stared, uncomprehending. What did he mean? Was this really his older brother? The Itachi he knew would never cry, would never display emotions as strong as this.

"Forgive me, Sasuke." Itachi whispered.

"W... what happened?" Sasuke finally managed to ask. Itachi shook his head and put a finger to his lips. Sasuke fell silent and listened carefully. He barely managed to pick up the sounds of a shrill whistle in the distance, and he grimaced. It was the ANBU's signal, in minutes, the Uchiha estate would be swarming with ninjas.

"I do not have much time, little one, so listen well. I cannot stay in Konoha any longer." He shut his eyes, breathed in heavily. "I killed the Uchihas." Sasuke's eyes widened again. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself as Itachi flashed him a stern gaze. "But I assure you, there was a reason for it. I cannot explain it now, it would take precious time I do not have. You have enormous potential, Sasuke. Grow to be a powerful ninja. Restore the Uchiha clan, and prove my innocence. But most important of all, you must protect Konoha at all costs. The safety of this village was the reason why I killed tonight, Sasuke. Konoha's safety now lies in your hands."

"Brother... what...?" Sasuke tried to ask, but Itachi shook his head again.

"You will understand in due time. Know this and know it well: Konoha is the one place where you can truly grow strong, Sasuke. There is no other place."

"I understand." Sasuke put on a look of determination, pressing his lips together. Itachi smiled, and ruffled his younger brother's hair. Picking up his sword, Itachi vanished through the doorway into darkness.

All Sasuke could do was stare, and dissolve into tears.

----------

"Itachi!" The mentioned paused in his flight at the familiar voice, and came to a rest atop a tree branch. No more than a second later, a second figure joined him, decked in full ANBU gear, his face hidden behind a dog mask. A mop of messy silver hair could be seen, and Itachi smirked.

"Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi nodded, removing his mask. His face was unusually serious, his Sharingan spinning. Itachi stared at it for a moment, recalling the story of how Kakashi had obtained it. It had been during the night of Kyubi's attack. Kakashi's teammate and best friend, Uchiha Obito, had been mortally wounded in battle, his right eye destroyed by one of the demon fox's attacks. Kakashi had not gotten away unscathed either, his chakra was almost completely drained, and his left eye had been torn out. As Obito took his final breath, he asked Kakashi to take his eye, and Kakashi had made sure to honor his friend's last wish.

"Was the mission successful?" Kakashi asked, snapping Itachi out of his thoughts.

"Yes... the Uchiha clan has been decimated."

"I wish you didn't have to do this, Itachi." Kakashi murmured, his eyes downcast.

"There was no other choice. There was no other personnel available for this mission, and it had to be done solo to avoid getting unwanted attention."

"Still... it was a great risk. This was an S rank mission, Itachi. Even ANBU captains can fail at those. Not to mention that now you can never return to Konoha. The only reason Hokage believed your story is because of your loyalty to Konoha; without evidence, you will have to be classed and treated as a Missing Nin."

"As long as I can protect Konoha, I do not care." Itachi snapped, his voice terse and cold. "The Uchihas deserved what they received." Kakashi nodded solemnly, knowing better than to argue with the Uchiha when he was in a bad mood.

"I'm going." Itachi vanished from sight, without waiting for Kakashi to reply. That was how he had always been, and how he would always be. Kakashi sighed, then quickly did a few hand seals.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He muttered, and an exact copy of himself appeared on the tree branch next to him. Then... "Henge!" And the copy's image shifted and solidified to form that of Itachi's. Kakashi nodded curtly at it, and it took off into the darkness. Heaving another sigh, Kakashi straightened himself, and took a whistle from his pocket, blowing into it shrilly. His teammates reported in almost immediately, and he pointed in the direction the clone had run.

There was the rustling of leaves, and the howl of the night wind, and then all of them were gone.


	2. Uzumaki Naruto

The sky was clear of clouds this day. It had an awe-inspiring azure hue to it that spread on for miles and miles, and the sun beat down brightly on the ground below. It was a lazy afternoon; the streets of Konoha were far less noisy than they usually were. A gentle breeze caught the tree branches, they swayed, and the rustling of leaves was soothing to the mind and soul. Here and there, pockets of people milled about, going around doing their jobs, their chatter filling the air not just with sound, but also with the essence of life. Children ran about, carefree and joyous, their laughter blending in seamlessly with the voices of the adults.

Chuunins on patrol duty did their work slowly, their faces free of stress, some of them eating and drinking, greeting civilians as they passed. An occasional Jounin could be seen, blurring into view and fading out of sight as they hurried along on their missions. It was a peaceful day, but Uchiha Sasuke found that he could enjoy none of it.

_Why did Brother have to kill the Uchihas?_

The question kept repeating itself inside his head, and he could find no logical answer to it. He recalled his brother saying that he had done so for the safety of Konoha, but that would mean that the Uchihas had been a threat to the Hidden Leaf, which made no sense. Weren't the Uchihas the peacekeeping force of Konoha? If anything, the safety of Konoha was up to _them_ to preserve. Sasuke scowled. And what had his brother meant when he said that he could not protect their mother? It was all so confusing.

For the week after the massacre, Sasuke had cried himself to sleep every night, waking every morning only to find that the massive Uchiha compound was now devoid of life and activity, knowing that his parents would never again be there for him, knowing that he was very much alone.

Knowing that made his pain worse. He was used to having a family around him, used to knowing that even if he stumbled and fell, there would be someone there to catch him. He was used to waking every morning to pester his older brother to teach him something new, to train him to become as powerful a ninja. And although his father was often impassive, knowing that his father was around made him feel secure. His mother had always been so loving, so willing to sacrifice herself for his gain. But now, he had none of that. He had to fend for himself, had to pick himself off the dirt after he fell, had no one around to make him feel _wanted, _to make him feel like he _belonged_.

But he did not blame his older brother. He held on firmly to the belief that his brother was innocent, and after he had forced himself to stop crying, he had started combing the Uchiha compound for clues or evidence that would lead to clearing his brother's name. But he did not know where to start, or what to look for, and it frustrated him to no end. Was he that powerless? He could not even do something as simple as proving his brother innocent.

"Isn't that Uchiha Sasuke?" Sasuke looked up, wondering who was talking about him. Turning to his left, he saw a group of middle-aged women huddled together, whispering and staring pointedly at him. He frowned, and turned his gaze away, although he continued to listen.

"Poor boy, I heard that his brother, Itachi, had killed the entire clan." Sasuke's eye twitched. He wanted so much to prove that his brother was innocent, that he had killed the clan to protect people like them.

"Such a pity, I heard that he was a genius... but all he is now is a murderer." Sasuke's blood began to boil. Were these people _stupid?_ Didn't they know that Itachi was a fiercely loyal ninja? Didn't they know that he had risked his life many times to protect Konoha? He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists.

"I hope they find that murderer soon! I don't feel safe knowing that he is still out there somewhere." That was all Sasuke could take. Wheeling around, he exploded.

"My brother is innocent!" He screamed at them, and they appeared to be startled. They gaped at him, speechless, and Sasuke took grim amusement in their reactions, knowing that he had, at least, shut them up. Glaring at them as best he could, he walked away, leaving them muttering amongst themselves.

Without realizing it, so deeply lost in his thoughts was he, that Sasuke very nearly tripped and tumbled down the slope that led into the river flowing through Konoha. Catching himself at the edge of the slope, he heaved a sigh of relief and leaned against a large boulder, sitting on the ground. The sound of water trickling in the river calmed him down, and he felt considerably better. He managed a small smile. _I'll rest a while, then go home and search again_.

That was when his ears picked up a strange sound.

_Hmm?_

Getting to his feet, he listened closely. Someone was sniffling, and from the sound of it, that some was nearby. He walked around the boulder, and looked around. Strange, there was no one in sight And yet, he could hear the sounds of someone sniffling. He glanced down, and jumped. There, curled up on the ground in a tiny ball, was a boy around his age, with bright blond hair. He was dressed in a decidedly horrible bright orange shirt and with a pair of gray shorts. His feet were bare. His face was buried in his knees, and his body was trembling slightly. Sasuke stared at the boy, unsure of what to do, then bent down and poked him in his shoulder. The boy looked up, and Sasuke was stunned by how brilliantly blue the boy's eyes were. The boy stared back at him for a split second, then yelped and jumped on top of the boulder in a surprising display of dexterity and agility.

"Are... are you going to throw... s-stones at me again?" The boy stuttered, and that was when Sasuke took notice of the bruises on the boy's face and skin. His mind began to cloud with anger again. Who could be some inhumane as to inflict pain and injury upon someone so young?

"No..." Sasuke said, standing up.

"You sure?" The boy did not seem frightened anymore, but was still wary of Sasuke.

"Yeah." Sasuke was surprised at how quickly the boy's expression changed. In an instant, his mouth twisted into a wide grin, and his eyes seem to _sparkle_ with limitless energy. The boy straightened himself and stood proudly on top of the boulder.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" He proclaimed loudly, flashing Sasuke a thumbs up. "And I'm going to be Hokage!" His voice was filled with confidence, confidence so complete, so _absolute_, that Sasuke did not doubt that the boy in front of him would indeed one day be Hokage. Naruto grinned, and began to laugh, and Sasuke found himself smiling despite himself. This boy's cheerfulness was _infectious! _Then, Naruto blinked, and peered at Sasuke curiously.

"Who are you?" Sasuke flinched. He did not want to tell this boy his name, speaking his name brought back memories of his dead clan, and he was sure that this boy would immediately take on an expression of pity. That was how everyone had been looking at him lately, and Sasuke hated it. _Take your pity and channel it into something useful! _Sasuke longed to tell those people.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke." He said hesitantly, and was surprised when Naruto did not look at him with pity. Instead, his face took on a look of thoughtfulness.

"That's a cool name!" He laughed after a moment of silence, and Sasuke gaped at him. Did he not know of the Uchiha Massacre, as people had come to call it? Apparently not. Sasuke was happy to know that, strangely.

"Why were you crying?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto's face fell.

"I don't know why." He muttered. "I wanted to play with the other kids, but then their moms came and took them away. They were calling me 'monster' and 'demon'... and then some of them started throwing stones at me." Sasuke stared, horrified. What was _wrong_ with these people? Naruto was very much an ordinary boy, not a demon!

"I don't have any friends." Naruto frowned, "Your name is the first I know. Well... second. I knew Iruka-sensei first, but he's not a kid, so he doesn't count."

"I'll be your friend." Sasuke offered. He wasn't sure why people would shun away from Naruto, when Naruto seemed like such a likeable person. He smiled as Naruto's face brightened.

"Really? You mean it?" He asked hopefully. Sasuke nodded.

Naruto smiled at him, and Sasuke smiled back.


	3. Haruno Sakura

The shrill sound of an alarm clock pierced the crisp morning air, and Naruto stirred in his bed. Groaning, he flipped himself over, and reached out a hand, shutting the alarm clock off. He tried to get back to sleep, but a ray of sunlight had invaded his apartment, and was stubbornly shining in his face. His eyes snapped open.

"I need curtains." Naruto muttered to himself, scratching his head, blinking and trying to get his eyes to focus. Something felt... different about this day, but Naruto couldn't quite place his finger on it. What made this day different from any other day? It had always been the same thing for him each time he awoke; he would get out of bed, eat ramen, wander around town looking for people to talk to and to play with, eat some more ramen, play some pranks on unsuspecting townspeople, eat even more ramen, visit Iruka after he returned from teaching at the academy, convince Iruka to treat him to supper, and head to bed.

It was starting to get rather boring for Naruto. He had played almost all pranks that was humanly possible, gotten into more trouble than all the other kids his age put together, and eaten enough ramen to tally up a tab that would probably last him into retirement.

So why was it that today he felt far happier than he had felt in ages? As the fog of sleep faded from his mind, and his brain started to work more quickly, Naruto suddenly conjured up a face in his mind, and recalled a name.

_Uchiha Sasuke._

Naruto grinned. That was it. After years of having only Iruka he could safely call a loved one, Naruto finally had a friend. It wasn't to say that Iruka wasn't a friend, no, he was more than that. He was a brother, a guardian, someone Naruto could look to for guidance, someone who could Naruto could look up to as a fatherly figure. Regardless, Iruka was still far older than he was, and sometimes tended to berate Naruto for his pranks and cheeky nature. The blond-haired boy had always wanted the company of someone his age, someone who could and probably would understand and partake in his tricks better than Iruka.

Now, it seemed, Naruto finally had that.

Then, Naruto frowned. He did not know where to look for Sasuke, and Konoha was ridiculously huge. Sasuke was very reluctant to reveal where he lived, and Naruto had completely forgotten to tell Sasuke where his apartment was located. Maybe he would find Sasuke back at the riverbank where they first met?

"No point staying here!" Naruto declared cheerfully, years of solitude imbuing in him the habit of talking to himself, to banish the overbearing silence. "I'll go get some ramen, and then look for Sasuke!" In his excitement, Naruto burst out of his apartment, completely forgetting that he was still in his boxers until an old lady living a few blocks down saw him, screamed something about indecent children, and chucked a shoe at his head with deadly precision.

----------

Sasuke wanted to scream in frustration. He wished the Uchiha compound wasn't so big, and he wished his brother had given him at least a _clue_ as to what to look for. He had prodded around in the section of the estate where his family had lived, and even after almost four days of searching, he had yet to finish combing the section. He despaired as he remembered that the section he lived in made up but a tiny portion of the entire Uchiha estate.

"This is impossible." Sasuke growled to himself, chucking a kunai at a straw doll in anger. His aim, affected by his anger, wasn't precise; it barely scratched the side of the doll. Sasuke sighed. He hated staying in this place; it was silent, dark, and _cold_. Not in the sense where the temperature was low, but because this place was so... so devoid of life, of activity. It seemed even the birds avoided this place, and the silence was so overwhelming that Sasuke often hummed to himself just to make sure that he had not gone deaf.

Deciding that a walk would help sooth his nerves, Sasuke left the estate, and walked down the same path he had followed the day before. How was he going to prove that his brother was innocent? It didn't seem likely; the estate was so massive that by the time he actually searched the entire place, he would probably be old enough for a wheelchair. The wind picked up and played with his long raven hair, and Sasuke found a tiny amount of enjoyment of the coolness in his face. At least, out here, things were more vibrant, out here, there were no spirits that would haunt him, leaving him feeling so paranoid that he would look over his shoulder every once in a while to ensure that he was very much alone in the estate.

"Hey, Sasuke!" The mentioned blinked. The voice was vaguely familiar... Sasuke turned around...

And wrinkled his nose in disgust. There, hurtling towards him, was a _bright _orange blur, so horrendously bright that Sasuke wanted to turn around and flee. But he recognized the mop of golden hair, and cracked a smirk instead. As he stood there, he suddenly had a strange sense of foreboding, and a little voice in his head screamed at him to move out of the way. Trusting his instincts, Sasuke hurriedly sidestepped, just as Naruto came dashing...

Past him...

And right into a roadside fruit stall.

Seconds later, Sasuke and Naruto found themselves fleeing from an enraged stall owner, brandishing and swinging a kitchen knife around in a dangerous manner. They were fast approaching a tall brick wall, and Sasuke turned his head around.

"We're stuck, Naruto!" He yelled, but Naruto grinned at him.

"A ninja is never stuck, Sasuke!"

"But we're not ninjas yet!" Sasuke yelled again, confused. That wall was getting awfully close...

"Well... believe you're one, then!" Naruto hurtled ahead, and with a burst of agility, leapt up the wall and caught onto the top of it, clambering over. He stood on top of the wall and stared at Sasuke, who was slowing down and gaping at him.

"Jump!" He shouted, flailing his hands wildly. "The fruits guy is coming!" Sasuke snapped out of his reverie, nodded curtly, and jumped as high as he could. He reached for the top of the wall, stretching his hand out as far as it could go... but he missed. Just as he was resigning himself to a fate of being hacked to death by the fruit stall owner, Naruto's arms darted out and grabbed his own, pulling him onto the top of the wall, just as the stall owner came running, panting heavily. He glared at them, and started hopping up and down at the base of the wall, but could not get to where the two kids were staring and grinning at him.

Swearing and shaking his fist at them, the man beat a retreat, much to Sasuke's relief.

"That was a close one." He breathed, and then caught sight of Naruto's grin. "What's so funny?"

"Wasn't that fun?" Naruto laughed uproariously. "Let's go do it again!" Sasuke stared at him.

"Are you crazy?" The raven-haired boy asked incredulously. Naruto shook his head vigorously, the grin still plastered to his face. Sasuke couldn't help himself – he began to laugh.

"Moron."

----------

"Aren't you tired yet?" Sasuke complained, wondering where Naruto got his infinite energy. They had already spent the entire morning running around playing pranks on others, and fleeing for their lives, and Sasuke was feeling more exhausted than he normally did after training, and that was saying something. Naruto was walking along, his hands clasped behind his neck, that same cheerful look ever present on his face.

"Nah, but I am hungry, though. Let's go have some ramen!" Sasuke blinked.

"Why ramen?" He involuntarily took a step backwards as Naruto froze in mid-step, and turned to stare at him with a look of utter disbelief on his face.

"Why ramen? _Why ramen_?" Naruto asked, his voice hitting a high pitch that made Sasuke wince. "Ramen is the BEST food in the whole wide world! I mean, it's served fast, it keeps you warm, it tastes awesome, it has tons of ingredients and different tastes, it has many different flavors, the soup tastes great, and it's cheap! How could you not eat ramen?" Sasuke swallowed and nodded slowly, sensing that this wasn't a good time to argue, not when Naruto had such a feverish look in his eyes, and certainly not when his arms were flying around in such a potentially dangerous manner.

"C'mon, I'll show you the best place to get ramen! It's just down the street!" Sasuke sighed and started to follow Naruto. Both of them ran down the street, Naruto with an eager look on his face, and Sasuke wondering if Naruto's claims about ramen were true. He had never eaten ramen before in his life, after all, and didn't know what it tasted like.

Suddenly, Sasuke noticed that Naruto had slowed down considerably, and had a curious look on his face. Looking to his right, he saw a playground, and at its center, a group of children, all of their age, huddled in a tight circle. They had looks of glee on their faces, and were jeering at something.

"What do you think they're doing?" Naruto asked.

"Beats me, let's go look." As they approached the group, their ears picked up the sounds of the kids' voices.

"Stupid!"

"Big forehead!"

"What's with your ugly hair?" One of the children raised a stick and started attacking whoever it was in the middle of the circle, laughing.

"Loser!" Immediately, Naruto's face registered a furious look. The children were bullying another, he supposed, and the jeers were enough to remind him of what others had often called him. That sort of pain, the misery that came with such words... Naruto knew it all too well. And just as Sasuke had helped make him feel better, Naruto decided that he was going to do the same. Sasuke, too, was ready to jump into the fray, disgusted at the way people treated others.

With a yell, Naruto pounced on one of the children, tackling him to the ground. The boy, startled, did nothing to stop the attack. The two of them rolled away, screaming at each other. Sasuke quickly rushed in just as the group of children dispersed, confused, and he grabbed hold of the victim's hand, pulling the person up and running. The children started to follow, but Naruto, returning from his scuffle, ran in front of them and mustered up the scariest look he could manage.

"Hey! That boy!"

"Mom said that he's a monster!"

"Monster! Monster!"

"Run!" Screaming in terror, the children fled, and Naruto grinned. For once, his unwanted nickname had done something _good_. He quickly chased after Sasuke, who had come to a stop at a bench near the playground. Sasuke released the person's hand, and stood still, trying to catch his breath. As Naruto came skidding past, yelling, he turned around to get his first good look at the victim. He gawked.

It was a girl, with long pink hair and emerald green eyes. Her face was bruised, and there were dried tear streaks running down it. Her clothes, a long red dress with slits at the sides, were dirty. She didn't look frightened, but she stared at her two saviors instead with wide eyes.

"Hey! It's a girl!" Naruto said in surprise as he jogged over. Sasuke nodded numbly. How could they bully a _girl_, and one so young? He watched as the girl put a hand to one of the bruises on her forehead gingerly, and wince in pain.

"Ow..." She moaned, and promptly dumped herself onto the bench. "That hurts..."

"Hey, you okay?" Naruto asked, planting his face in front of her, causing her to yelp. Sighing, Sasuke grabbed Naruto by his collar and pulled him away despite the latter's loud protests.

"Yes, I'm okay..." The girl said shyly, averting her gaze, "Thanks for helping me."

"Why were they bullying you?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Because I have a big forehead." She answered glumly. Naruto blinked, and went closer again, examining her forehead, much to the girl's surprise. Then he stood back and flashed her a grin.

"It looks okay to me!" The girl looked at him.

"You mean it?"

"Yeah! And I think your hair's really cool, too! It looks a whole lot better than those other kids'! Theirs looked like bird nests!" The girl smiled happily, and Sasuke smirked. Naruto, while having no tact whatsoever, was _unbeatable_ at cheering other people up.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And I'm going to be Hokage!" Naruto thumped his chest, inciting a giggle from the girl in front of him. Then he pointed at Sasuke. "And that's Uchiha Sasuke. He's a great guy!" Sasuke tried to stop Naruto, but was too slow, and inwardly groaned as his name came forth. He watched the girl carefully, wondering if she had heard of the Uchiha Massacre, and then heaved a mental sigh of relief as the girl smiled at him, apparently blank about the incident.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," The girl said chirpily, "Pleased to meet you!"

"Likewise." Sasuke smirked. He was just about to say more, when Naruto suddenly slapped his cheeks in horror.

"Oh no! Ramen!" He groaned. "C'mon, lunch hour is almost over!" Without waiting for a response, he grabbed both Sasuke and Sakura's hands, and dragged them down the street.

"What's so special about lunch hour?" Sakura asked, trying to regain her balance unsuccessfully.

"Ramen is cheaper during lunch hour at the store! Quick! No time to lose!" So saying, he charged down the street, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake, screaming wildly, Sasuke following closely behind. Sakura stood still for a moment, staring at the two figures rapidly fading into the distance. Besides Ino, the two of them were the only ones ever to help her whenever she was bullied. There was certainly nothing to lose from following them, was there? With a giggle, she ran after the Naruto and Sasuke.

"Wait for me!"


	4. Iruka and The 3 Brats

Summer in Konoha – a merciless sun hanging in a cloudless sky, soaring temperatures, and no signs of cooling breezes. However, the weather today was remarkably cool for a summer's day, since it had rained the night before, and most people who commonly took refuge in their homes were out shopping, strolling or finding some way to enjoy the day. Roadside stall owners called out to passing townspeople energetically, hoping to take their profits to new levels. An atmosphere of bustling activity hung in the air; and the hot springs were filled to the brim with people.

School children stared longingly out the windows of their classroom, willing the day to end quickly so that they could go out and play. Many were dozing off, reading comics or eating, and even the most hardworking of students were starting to find it hard to concentrate on the lesson. Umino Iruka was fast running out of chalk and chalkboard dusters to chuck at his students, and he hurriedly tried to finish up the rest of the lesson about the history of Konoha.

_One day... _He vowed to himself silently, _one day I'll go take that stupid Jounin exam, pass it, and then I won't have to teach anymore_. He scowled as he glanced around the classroom, realizing that majority of the students were sleeping, and openly too. He had lost the attention of almost all the students, and he was fairly certain that if he stopped speaking and snuck quietly out of the classroom, the students wouldn't even notice. However, he had his obligations as a teacher, and thus couldn't do that. Sighing, he resigned himself to his fate, when suddenly an evil idea struck him. It was an idea so... so _terrible_, that he was fairly certain that his students would all despair. He wondered briefly how he, of all people, would have such an idea, and then immediately a face and name popped into his head.

Uzumaki Naruto... 

Iruka smirked. He shut his book, and slammed it on the wooden desk next to him as loudly as he could, jolting all the students awake.

"Class dismissed!" He yelled, and all the students stared at him blankly, then glanced at the clock hanging above his head. They started to cheer, thinking that they had the rest of the day off, when Iruka raised his hand, indicating that he wanted to speak.

"_Not_."

There was a collective groan from the class. Iruka flashed them a triumphant smirk. Turning his back on the class, he began to write on the chalkboard, and the students leaned forward, trying to see what he was writing, when he did not have the history textbook in hand. Suddenly, the student sitting closest to Iruka slapped his cheeks in horror.

"Class test!" He screamed, and immediately the students all began to panic.

"That's right, class test." Iruka said with an evil little smile, "On the history of Konoha. If you pass, you're free to go. If you fail... detention till five." He resisted the urge to burst out laughing as the young children stared at one another, their eyes wide and their jaws hanging. He wrote down five questions on the chalkboard.

"Begin!"

----------

Sasuke yawned as he leaned against a large tree, resting in the shade. He was bored – he had spent another futile morning searching for clues. Naruto and Sakura were off taunting some roadside stall owners, and he did not want to risk getting skewered again. It was so quiet, so very peaceful, and Sasuke felt the tendrils of sleep sneaking up on him. Not that he minded. Sleep sounded very tempting at the moment. He was just about to close his eyes, when suddenly...

"Boo!" A face hung uncomfortably close to his, aquamarine eyes shining, mouth twisted in a huge grin.

"Yaargh!" Sasuke yelled, twisting his body around, only to come face to face with pink. A whole lot of pink.

"Boo!" The Uchiha heir promptly tripped on a tree root and went sprawling to the ground. Spluttering indignantly, he heard Naruto and Sakura laughing as they helped him to his feet.

"That wasn't funny." He complained.

"Yes, it was!" Naruto said in a singsong manner.

"No, it wasn't." Sasuke frowned.

"Yes, it was!" Sakura joined in. Realizing that he was outnumbered, Sasuke sighed and surrendered. Naruto, still laughing, tossed him an apple.

"We got it for free." Naruto said, as Sasuke raised an eyebrow and stared at him questioningly. Shrugging, Sasuke bit into the apple. It was juicy and crunchy, and he saw that the other two were enjoying their apples as well. He savored the feeling of the sweet juice running down his throat, chewed slowly on the apple, trying to enjoy its taste as long as possible...

"MY APPLES!" Someone roared in the distance, and Sasuke choked.

"Whoops." Naruto mumbled, rather insincerely, through a mouthful of apple, and took off running, Sakura following and giggling. Sasuke paused, and stared at the fast approaching man, who had a furious look on his red face. Then he gulped. The man had discarded his previous knife for an even bigger one this time around. Turning, he fled, then smirked as Naruto twisted his head around to face the man, and took a huge bite out of his apple noisily.

Seconds later, the trio found themselves running faster than they had ever run in their lives. Not even a _lion_ could have matched _that_ roar of anger!

"I didn't know," Sakura gasped for breath, "That someone so fat can run so fast!"

----------

Iruka stood solemnly behind his desk as his students filed in glumly after lunch break, holding a sheaf of paper in his hands, all dotted with circles drawn in red. He repressed a grin, knowing that he had an image to uphold as a teacher.

"There will be no need for you to return to your seats." He said matter-of-factly, and watched, as the students suddenly seemed to brighten up. If they didn't have to return to their seats, didn't that mean that there wasn't any more lessons? Didn't that mean that they were free to go?

How dreadfully wrong they were.

"Line up, single-file, the first student on my extreme left of the classroom, and the last on my extreme right." Iruka waited gleefully. "Right, now, all of you, face the front." The students followed accordingly, looks of confusion apparent on their faces. Iruka coughed into his hand, then approached the first student, the tallest in the class, stretching out one hand and putting it on top of the student's head. The boy read the gesture as a sign that he had passed, and whooped happily.

"Fail." The student fell over.

Iruka walked down the row, keeping his hand level, sweeping it over the heads of all the students. And with each student he passed, he announced loudly: "Fail!" There was a universal groan of despair as Iruka returned to his position behind his desk.

"Now, for detention, I want each and every one of you to write an essay about hand seals and how they work. No slacking off – I'll be grading your essays! Those who don't do well will get more detention." The students dragged themselves back to their seats and took out their paper, writing their essays as quickly as possible. Iruka sat down, enjoying the peace and quiet, and took out a book to read to pass the time. The ceiling fans spun slowly, lazily even, creaking gently. Iruka was started to nod off, when his ears picked up a strange sound.

"-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-"

"Eh?" Iruka got up from his seat. The sound was getting louder, and the students had all heard it as well. He approached the window, and stared outside. There was nothing, just a long slope with a huge mud pool running down it. He scratched his head. What was producing the strange sound?

"Wheeeeeeee!" Iruka's eyes bugged out as Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura went zooming past, riding down the mud pool atop what looked like a wooden cart used for transporting goods. Naruto had a look of intense, almost insane glee on his face, Sakura just wouldn't stop laughing, and Sasuke looked as though he wasn't sure if he should laugh or jump off the cart and find a place to bury his face. Chunks of mud flew into the classroom, pelting the students as they scattered, screaming. And even as Iruka watched, torn between amusement and shock, a fat man dressed in a plain white shirt and dark pants went skidding past on the mud pool after the trio, spewing obscenities.

Iruka sighed. From the looks of it, he had to stop Naruto before anything bad happened. Almost reluctantly, he turned to face his class.

"Alright, class dismissed, finish up your essays over the weekend and hand it in next Monday." The class cheered, thanking whoever it was that had saved them from an afternoon of torture, and immediately they burst out of the classroom, fleeing before Iruka could change his mind. The Chuunin sighed again, and climbed out the window, spying the trio at the bottom of the slope jumping off the cart, with the man closing in rapidly. Iruka drew in a deep breath...

"NARUTO!"

A certain blond-haired boy stumbled as he climbed out of the cart and fell flat on his face in the mud.

----------

"Naruto, one day your pranks will get you killed." Iruka sighed, as the group of four walked down the streets of Konoha. The sun was setting, and the streetlights were starting to flicker on. It had taken Iruka almost an hour to calm the enraged fruit stall owner down, and it had taken a fair bit of Iruka's money to compensate the man. Sasuke and Sakura had apologized for the trouble they had caused, but Naruto, on the other hand...

"Eh, don't worry! I won't die until I become Hokage!" Naruto laughed. "Then everyone will acknowledge me!" Iruka's stern glare softened. He knew that Naruto was a very lonely boy, and that his pranks were merely a way to seek attention and to kill time. He knew it all too well; after all, he had been the same once. He smiled as Naruto started joking and recounting the day's events with Sasuke and Sakura, smiled as the two listened, laughed, and took part in the conversation cheerfully. Iruka knew that Naruto was in desperate need of friends, peers who could and would acknowledge him for the person that he was, and here were two who would possibly give him just that.

He was fearful, though, fearful of their reactions should they find out about Naruto's secret. He feared that they would be like the rest of Konoha, shunning him, casting him aside like a doll. He feared that if that happened, there would be no rescuing Naruto from the depths of despair and sadness, and that Naruto would turn on Konoha, using the terrible powers of Kyubi against it.

Iruka shook his head, clearing his mind of the thoughts. Now wasn't the time to think about such things.

"Come on," He smiled, ruffling Naruto's hair, "I'll treat all of you to ramen."


	5. Balls of Water

Naruto was very, very bored. And for those who knew Naruto well, that was an indication that it was time to flee in the opposite direction, screaming. Naruto was so bored that he was prepared to do just about _anything_ to liven up the day. The trio was settled in the middle of one of Konoha's training fields. Sasuke had dragged them there, insisting that they had to train if they wanted to be formidable ninjas. Sakura didn't seem to mind all that much, but Naruto, on the other hand...

"That was a nice shot, Naruto!" Sasuke nodded, examining Naruto's kunai, which was lodged in the center of the target. "But could you aim for the target in _front _of you next time?" Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. Sasuke sighed as Naruto let out another enthusiastic yell, threw his kunai with immense gusto, and missed the target spectacularly, narrowly avoiding decapitating a rabbit. Sakura began to giggle uncontrollably as Naruto groaned and sat cross-legged on the ground, eyeing the target suspiciously, wondering if it was _dodging _his kunai.

"Maybe you ought to try aiming from a shorter distance?" Sasuke suggested.

"Eh, no way! A Hokage must be able to do all the most difficult things!" Naruto replied, pumping his fist into the air, drawing another kunai. He steadied himself, positioning his body for the throw, and shut one eye. He drew his hand backwards in an upward arc, the kunai gleaming brightly as it reached the zenith of its climb. His hand blurred as it moved forward swiftly, and he released the kunai with a deft flick of his wrist. The kunai flew, never wavering, never shifting in its course...

Straight...

Past...

The target.

Sasuke slapped his forehead in exasperation as Naruto stared at the target, his eyes close to popping out of their sockets. That was more than Sakura could take. Struggling to stop laughing and catch her breath, Sakura stumbled away to the nearby lake. As she settled down by the side, calming herself, her gaze traveled out to the pristine, tranquil water surface, and an idea began to form in her mind. Dipping her hands into the water, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

Back at the targets, Naruto was pouting as he stared at his and Sasuke's targets. His was remarkably empty, and the few kunai that were stuck in it were scattered widely all over the target. On the other hand, Sasuke's target was filled with kunai, most of them in the central zone. Naruto's pout deepened as he recalled that one of those kunai had been his.

"Sasuke, Sasuke!" Naruto pestered, poking the raven-haired boy in the shoulder, "How do you aim so good?" Sasuke turned, wiping the sweat from his forehead, then thought to himself.

"Well, I focus on the target, and then use my mind's eye to make it seem larger, so when I aim for the center, it's easier." He said after a moment of silence. Naruto stood, a finger scratching his cheek; processing the information Sasuke had just given him.

"What's a mind's eye?" Sasuke sighed.

"I can't really explain it... okay, look at the target." Naruto did as he was told. "Focus on it, and picture it in your head at the same time." Naruto's eyes widened as he stared pointedly at the target. "Now, while focusing on it, zoom in on the picture in your head until you can see the center really up close." Naruto's eyes popped wider even further, if that was possible. Sasuke resisted the urge to burst out laughing at the sight of Naruto's face, red with exertion, eyes wide, mouth pressed shut tightly.

"Naruto!" Sakura called from the lake, and Naruto turned to face her, his facial expression not changing. "You look constipated!"

"What?!" Naruto spluttered indignantly, then... "Blargh!" He toppled over backwards as a ball of water came flying and exploded in his face. Sasuke stared blankly. Where had the water come from? The target practice area was a good distance away from the lake, and there was no other source of water nearby. He didn't have much time to think further than that, as another ball of water came whizzing along and hit him in the face as well, knocking him over with a startled yell.

Naruto and Sasuke got to their feet unsteadily, spitting water out of their mouths, and stared as Sakura fell over, laughing madly.

"It worked! It really worked!" She repeated to herself.

"What did you do?" Sasuke asked, curious. She giggled and beckoned, and the two boys jogged over. All three sat by the lake, and the two males watched as Sakura dipped her hands into the water, spacing them outwards slightly. She frowned slightly as she concentrated, and her hands began to glow as chakra flowed into her palms. Naruto and Sasuke watched, fascinated, as the water around her hands began to swirl slowly, and as the chakra from her hands spread out and formed a small orb around the water. Slowly, she pulled her hands out of the water, and raised the small ball of water triumphantly, the chakra glowing a brilliant blue.

"Wow." Was all Sasuke could manage.

"That's really awesome, Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed. "Teach me how to do it! Please, please?" Sakura nodded.

"It's really easy!" She dipped her hands into the water again, and Naruto eagerly followed. Sasuke, immensely intrigued, did the same. "Okay, now summon your chakra to your hands. Use less if you want a smaller ball of water, and more if you want a larger one, obviously. But try not to let it get too big – it's really hard to control."

Moments later, Sakura was happy tossing a ball of water around, Sasuke was struggling to keep the ball of water in shape as he lifted it out of the lake, and Naruto was often causing the water to blow up in his face because he kept pumping too much chakra into it. Sasuke smiled as he managed to solidify a ball of water, albeit a tiny one, and chucked it at Naruto's head, breaking his concentration and causing the water in front of him to explode spectacularly. Again.

"Wow, Sakura, your chakra control is really good." Sasuke said admiringly. Sakura grinned at the compliment.

"Thanks!"

"Eeehhhh! This is impossible!" Naruto whined.

----------

Iruka smiled and waved cheerfully as the students ran out of the classroom, eager to get home after a long day of school. As the last of the students left and the door slid shut, Iruka settled into his chair, and began to grade the essays the students had handed in. It was a peaceful day, and it had been a good one, too. Today, none of the students had fallen asleep in class, and Iruka considered it a sort of personal record.

_Whoosh_.

"Huh?" Iruka muttered to himself, looking up. The next thing he knew, he was sprawled all over his desk, his face dripping with water, coughing. Looking around, he heard suppressed laughter from outside the classroom, and he stormed over to the window, and peered outside. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were sitting beneath it. Naruto was grinning madly, holding a ball of water about the size of a child's head in his hands. Sakura was laughing, and Sasuke had an amused look on his face, holding a ball of similar size as Naruto's. Iruka marveled at their chakra control, then sighed and kneaded his forehead.

"Naruto, I don't have time for this today." He said, rapping Naruto's head, eliciting an 'ow!' Returning to his seat, Iruka resumed grading his essays. He would take a closer look at those balls of water later–

_Whoosh._

Iruka scowled as another ball of water sailed into the classroom and exploded on the floor in front of him. Looking at the window, he saw Sasuke looking vaguely mortified, bent over slightly. Sakura stood behind him, her hands outstretched, and Naruto was guffawing. From the looks of it, Sakura had pushed Sasuke, causing him to lose hold of the ball of water. Naruto grinned, and raised his ball to chest-level, where Iruka could see it clearly. Iruka frowned, and chucked a piece of chalk at Naruto, striking the goggles he wore on his forehead and promptly falling into the ball of water. The outer layer of chakra shredded the chalk into fine powder, and the powder in turn swirled around in the water, turning it into a murky white.

Naruto's initially confused look immediately turned into a sly grin. Iruka didn't like it.

"Naruto, don't you dare throw that." The grin was still there.

"Naruto..."

_Whoosh._

The silence hanging over Konoha was abruptly shattered as a blond-haired boy burst out from the academy, screaming. Following close behind was a middle-aged man, dripping wet, chasing after him with a murderous gleam in his eyes.

----------

Uchiha Itachi stood impassively in the middle of a huge enclosed hall, which was shrouded in darkness. The floor was made of marble, cracked and worn with age, and from what little Itachi could see in the reflections, he appeared to be the only one within the chamber, although he knew otherwise. Tall pillars, built of solid stone, towered over him, spaced out evenly in a circle around the hall. They were built as arches, culminating at an unseen point hidden in the darkness. The ceiling could not be seen.

Words and symbols were carved into the walls of the hall, and Itachi immediately recognized them as the symbols to a sealing scroll. His eyes narrowed. Jutsus were useless in this hall – the walls would absorb the chakra. It was deathly silent, much as the forest had been. He had traveled for days through that forest, filled with an eerie fog, a forest where no sunlight penetrated the treetops, where no living creatures seemed to exist. And now, he was here.

"Uchiha Itachi." A voice rang out from the darkness, echoing, masking its source. "Origin: Konoha. S-class criminal, wanted for the massacre of the Uchiha clan." There was amusement apparent in the voice's tone. It was strong, confident and unwavering. "Considered to be a genius, mastered the Sharingan at the age of six, and became an ANBU captain at the age of thirteen." There was a low murmur now, although Itachi did not care. He focused his attention on the voice.

"Uchiha." The amusement faded from the voice's tone, and it became sharp, deadly. "Do you consider yourself worthy?"

"Of course." Itachi replied steadily, immediately, injecting confidence into his tone. "Is there even a need to ask?" The voice began to laugh.

"You are a confident one, Itachi. I like that." Itachi said nothing in response, standing still, waiting as the laughter came to a stop.

"Welcome to the organization of Akatsuki."


	6. Typical Day, Untypical Dream

A/N: Some people have asked me how exactly Naruto could have gotten such good chakra control in a relatively short period of time, and I thought I'd elaborate. In the manga (I admit I have only seen a few episodes of the anime), Kakashi mentioned that Naruto has an immense chakra reserve, greater than his own and Sasuke's. During the tree climbing exercise, Sakura was the first to reach the top, and Kakashi commented that she had excellent chakra control, but it might have been due to her smaller chakra reserve.

If we link chakra control to the size of chakra reserves, then Naruto has better chakra control than Sasuke in that sense, since Sasuke's reserve is nowhere near the size of Naruto's, and yet they completed the tree climbing exercise at the same time. This was also because Sakura had given Naruto some tips, which brings me to my next point. Once Sakura had given Naruto some pointers, he started to make immense progress. Though he is dense, with proper guidance, Naruto learns insanely fast. Let us not forget that Naruto had started out with pretty much zero chakra control, while Sasuke had an obvious advantage. Since Sasuke and Sakura were both helping him with the water ball trick, it can be expected that he'd learn pretty fast.

Now, we all know that Naruto is a very fast learner. He managed to learn the Kage Bunshin, a Jounin-level technique, in the few hours before he was discovered by Iruka, and mastered the final stage of Rasengan, an A rank difficulty jutsu, in one week. When he is motivated to learn or do something, he becomes a sort of genius in his own right. Sasuke and Sakura are at present, his best friends. Since they had both learned it already (not to mention that they were pelting him with water balls), Naruto would want to learn it as quickly as possible too (and get back at them).

Finally, my last point is that this 'technique' has nowhere near the complexity of, say, tree climbing or Rasengan. Kakashi mentioned that it is hardest to concentrate chakra at the feet, and this technique involved channeling chakra through the hands, which would probably mean that it is a lot easier. Besides that, it doesn't require the user to squeeze his chakra together, or to force chakra to move in a fixed direction. The chakra is spread around the water the hands are touching to form a small ball, trapping the water inside.

I hope this lengthy explanation makes things clearer. XD I've always felt that Naruto is a genius, similar to Rock Lee. I wanted to bring this point out more in this story.

----------

The classroom was incredibly stuffy, and the clock was moving at a suspiciously slow pace. Boredom hung in the air, and Iruka's droning voice was occasionally interrupted by a loud yawn. Sasuke sat in his seat, trying his hardest not to fidget and not to fall asleep. He was bored stiff; what did the history of Konoha have to do with his becoming a ninja anyway? Next to him, Sakura was diligently copying down notes, the only one in the class to be doing so, and sitting next to her, was Naruto. The blond-haired boy was sleeping, and blatantly doing so. He was slouched in his seat, his head pointed skywards, mouth hanging open. Besides that, he was snoring as well.

Behind Naruto slept another boy, with his head on his desk. His black hair was tied in a short ponytail, and he wore a plain sleeveless vest. He was snoring just as loudly as Naruto. Nara Shikamaru, that was his name, if Sasuke could remember right. Lazier than even Naruto when it came to lessons, if that was possible, and everything seemed to be far too troublesome for him to bother with. He recalled Shikamaru being the only one in class to receive a zero for the recent test. Naruto had, at least, scored a percentage of 40. Shikamaru, as Sasuke recalled, had not even bothered to lift his pen up to write anything more than his name.

Sitting next to Shikamaru was a fat boy with dull red hair, happily munching away on a burger, trying to hide his pudgy face behind his textbook rather unsuccessfully. Akimichi Chouji, a boy who could rival Naruto in terms of ramen-eating speed. At the beginning of the lesson, Sasuke had seen him munching on a newly opened large bag of potato chips, and a minute later, when Sasuke glanced backwards, Chouji had already started on a huge sandwich. Not wanting to think about how Chouji had managed to cram the contents of the bag of chips into his belly so quickly, Sasuke quickly turned away. Watching Naruto gulp down ramen at unthinkable speeds was bad enough.

Next to Chouji was the one girl Sasuke considered to be the bane of his existence. Yamanaka Ino. To say she was infatuated with Sasuke was a gross understatement. She was _obsessed_. Sasuke had no idea what gave her the idea that he liked girls with long hair, but each time he walked past her, she would toss her ponytail about in an exaggerated manner, winking and blowing kisses at him, making him shudder. He recalled the day when he, Naruto and Sakura had first enrolled in the academy. One moment he was filling up a registration form, the next he was standing unsteadily a few feet away, Ino latched around him, squealing. Naruto and Sakura stood, watching and laughing, and it had taken bribes of free ramen to get the two to pry Ino off him.

Yes, it seemed that Sakura was very much a huge fan of ramen as well. Sasuke liked it, but certainly not to the extent of his two friends. Though Sakura ate a lot less ramen than Naruto, she often took every opportunity to indulge in it.

Since that day, Ino had demonstrated her immense prowess as a ninja, ambushing Sasuke with lunch whenever he least expected it, popping out of seemingly nowhere to ask for a date. It was very... disturbing, to say the least. He was thankful that Sakura was nothing like her best friend.

Seated on Sasuke's left was a boy with strange markings on his face, and with a dog lazing on top of his head. Inuzuka Kiba was very much like Naruto – he was loud, rash, impatient and enjoying playing tricks on others. Not to mention that, like Naruto, the meaning of 'manners' did not exist in his mind. And again, much like Naruto, he was fast asleep, snoring away blissfully. And yet, he was completely different from Naruto. Naruto's personality made him likeable, made him the undisputed champion at making people smile. Kiba, on the other hand, seemed to just plain get on other people's nerves.

"Uchiha! Don't think just because you're from a family of good ninjas that I won't beat you in a fight!" He had declared _loudly_ on the first day of school, and left Sasuke blinking, staring almost stupidly at the boy. He didn't even know this guy!

Next to Kiba was a girl with short black hair and white eyes. Now, Hyuga Hinata, Sasuke decided, he could like. She was probably the only girl in the class, besides Sakura, who wasn't obsessed with him, and that scored big points in Sasuke's book. She was a bit of a mystery, though. She hardly ever spoke, and was very, very shy. As Iruka continued on with his lesson, she stared blankly ahead at the chalkboard, twiddling her thumbs, and Sasuke wasn't sure if she was paying attention or not.

Finally, Sasuke's attention wandered to the boy seated next to Hinata. Sasuke knew nothing about Aburame Shino, except that he spoke even less than Hinata, and that his face was mostly hidden behind a turtleneck and a pair of black tinted glasses. He seemed to be respectful of Sasuke, and gave off a strong air of dignity as he sat still in his place, never moving. Of course, he might have been sleeping, but Sasuke had no way of making sure.

"Okay, class! Bunshin practice!" Iruka said suddenly, as he slammed his hand on the chalkboard, bringing everyone's attention to him. Sasuke heaved a sigh of relief. The boring lesson was over, at least. He smirked as Naruto gave a loud groan at the word 'Bunshin'. It was the one basic technique Naruto could never get correct. That used to apply to his Henge as well, but Sakura had, quite literally, pounded it into his head after repeated failures. One by one the class trudged down to the bottom of the classroom, where Iruka asked them to create at least one clone of themselves. Most of the students managed it fine; the better ones produced two or more clones.

Sasuke, not wanting to give his fan club more reason to fawn over him, created just one Bunshin and quickly returned to his seat. He smirked as Naruto was called, and the boy dragged himself down to Iruka with a look akin to those of prisoners facing the gallows.

"You know the drill, Naruto. Create at least one Bunshin. One _fully functional_ Bunshin." Iruka added ominously, knowing full well of Naruto's weakness. Naruto gulped, did the hand seals and there was a massive burst of smoke. As the smoke cleared, Naruto looked around hopefully, then spotted his Bunshin lying on the floor. If it could even be called a Bunshin. It was highly deformed, the hands twisted in impossible angles, and the feet weren't fully formed. Naruto swore audibly as Iruka grinded his fist into the Uzumaki's head. The class started laughing, and Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Okay, target practice." Iruka sighed as he dragged Naruto out of the classroom, the rest of the students following. Sasuke smirked. Target practice was something that Naruto could do reasonably well, but he disliked it.

"A Hokage doesn't need weapons! He just needs to beat up his enemies!" Sakura giggled as Naruto's voice floated into the classroom.

"Don't be stupid!" Iruka's angry voice followed an audible 'thonk!' and an indignant 'ow!' "All ninjas need to have reasonable mastery of weapons in order to survive battles, even the Hokage!"

"Eh! Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, and Iruka dropped him, coughing, as his face met with a lot of smoke.

"Heh heh heh!" Naruto cackled, "C'mon, Slackers Five! Let's get out of here!" Chouji and Kiba eagerly followed after Naruto, and the three dashed down the corridor. Shikamaru followed at a slower pace, muttering 'this is troublesome' to himself all the while. Sasuke paused and pondered. He wasn't exactly sure why Naruto had included him in his exclusive group 'Slackers Five', when Sasuke wasn't a delinquent. Then he remembered that there was to be more history lessons later in the afternoon, and he quickly followed Naruto in his wild escape, while Iruka cursed and swore, fanning the smoke away from his face, stumbling around blindly.

Pandemonium! As Sasuke made his escape, his fan club, consisting of pretty much all the girls in class, followed after, screaming his name. Sakura watched, amused, and then helped Iruka get to his feet from where he had been trampled on by the stampede. Iruka glanced around, and noted that only half the class was left present. He shook his head in exasperation.

"Sakura, when the Jounin exams come, remind me to go take it."

----------

It was dark, so very dark. The long, narrow corridor stretched on, never ending, leading into what seemed to be the heart of darkness itself. There were no doors set in the gray, cracking walls; there were no turns, no discrepancy in its structure. The floor was flooded, murky, black water lay stagnant upon it. It was impossible to discern its depth by merely looking at it – it looked like a black void, leading into nothingness. Nobody stood in the corridor, and yet it wasn't silent. Voices with no source spoke in harsh whispers, in strange languages one could not understand, and yet the words were hissed in such a manner that their meanings were clear.

_Death._

_Destruction._

_Murder. _

"What is this place?" Naruto muttered to himself. He was cold, and the water around his feet wasn't helping in the least. He shuddered, then decided that there was nothing to gain in standing around. He proceeded down the corridor, when he noticed something very, very odd indeed. Even as he dragged his feet through the water, splashing the dark liquid all over the place, it made no sound at all. The normally fearless Naruto felt the tiniest sliver of fear pierce his soul. A voice in his head screamed at him to turn around and run, but even as he glanced behind, he saw that there was no visible exit in sight. Just a long, narrow tunnel leading into darkness.

Something told him that even if he turned around and fled, it would lead him to the same place as the way forward.

Naruto pressed onward. He had no idea how long he walked, or how much distance he had covered, but suddenly the corridor led into a huge chamber. Swallowing, he proceeded forward. The chamber was plain, non-descript, but at the far end there was a huge cage, and talismans hung from the metal bars, as though something _evil_ was sealed within. He stepped forward, and was suddenly aware that the water made a splashing sound.

Naruto froze as a huge crimson eye flared open from within the cage.

"Brat." A low guttural voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I... I don't know." Naruto stammered. The eye was focused on him, never moving, unblinking. Whatever it was in the cage, it gave off an aura of terror, of death, and it scared Naruto. The... _thing_ began to laugh.

"I see, you weren't brought here on purpose." Naruto didn't know what it meant.

"Who are you?" He asked. The thing snorted in derision.

"You don't know? Interesting... As of now, there is no need for you to know." The thing began to laugh, a terrible evil laugh. Naruto's hair stood on end, and he couldn't move. It stirred, moved, and suddenly another eye loomed over him. A set of huge, sharp fangs revealed themselves in the darkness, opening wide. Naruto could smell its breath... "Leave, brat."

Something heavy slammed against the gate...

The smell of blood.

_Murder._

_Kill._

The laughter wouldn't stop; it swam around Naruto, wrapping him in it, piercing through his very soul... he was going to die, the thing was going to devour him...

Naruto's eyes flew open. He sat up in his bed, the fear subsiding and banished by relief as he recognized his room. The night wind blew at him, whipping his hair around his face.

"What... what was that?" Naruto muttered to himself, as he lay back on his bed. As he shut his eyes and tried to return to sleep, he became gradually aware of a noise.

The laughter hung in the air like an abomination, never fading.


	7. Oiroke no Jutsu

If it had been any other day, Iruka would have found himself frustrated to no end trying to get students to settle down in their seats and study for their exams. If it had been any other day, he would be going around catching students sleeping or eating in class, and he would have meted out detention to such students. If it had been any other day, Iruka would have found himself utterly exasperated by Naruto's pranks, that livened up the day and created riots at the same time. If it had been any other day, Iruka would have been wondering just why exactly Sakura and Sasuke chose to involve themselves in Naruto's tricks when Sakura was a hardworking and very intelligent student, and Sasuke was a genius ninja.

As it turned out, it wasn't any other day.

All the students were, for once, highly attentive, leaning forward to look at Iruka. None were asleep, or eating or even reading material unrelated to what Iruka was teaching. Naruto was, for once, staring at him instead of playing pranks. Sasuke and Sakura sat close to Naruto, also staring at Iruka. Iruka's eyebrow twitched. If only he could have such attentiveness on other days. Iruka knew that Naruto wasn't playing pranks simply because he was tied up, and that once the ropes were off, riots would begin. Sasuke was seated behind Naruto, not tied up, but looking apologetic. Sakura, like Sasuke, wasn't tied up, and was also looking apologetic. Naruto, however, had a defiant look pasted onto his face.

"Your exams are tomorrow, you idiot!" Iruka scolded, ramming his fist into Naruto's head. "What are you doing running around outside and defacing the Hokage monument?" Naruto grinned at him and didn't reply, which only served to make Iruka even more furious than he already was. A vein throbbed on his forehead, and he resisted the urge to slap Naruto with detention for a year. He turned around and faced the rest of the class.

"Henge test!" He yelled, and the class groaned, slumping in their seats. "Line up according to your names, and do a Henge to look like me!" The students shuffled forward, forming a line.

"I told you – painting on the Hokages' faces wasn't a good idea." Sasuke sighed as he and Naruto made their way to the back of the class. Naruto shrugged.

"Hey, you were the one who dumped an entire bucket on the old geezer's nose!"

"It was an accident, I tripped!"

"Sure you did." Sakura smiled as the two bickered all the way to the back of the class. Naruto had initially insisted that he do it alone, since he knew he was going to get into trouble anyway, and he didn't want the other two to be caught with him. They, well, just Sakura, actually, had forced him to take her along, and she had dragged Sasuke along for the ride.

"Heh heh! I can paint on the Hokage monument and you guys can't!" She recalled Naruto calling out to the stunned bystanders. "Doesn't that make me better than you?"

"Haruno Sakura!" Iruka called, and she hurried forward, doing a perfect Henge, receiving a thumbs-up from her teacher. She smiled and returned to her seat, watching as Hinata went next. She was confident that the exam tomorrow would be easy, after all, she had spent 3 solid weeks preparing for it, and she had even studied some Chuunin-level text, ensuring that any text-based test would be a piece of cake for her. She knew Sasuke would have no problems passing as well, after all, he was the top student in every possible test, save for written tests. There, he often lost to Sakura, although he didn't seem to mind. It gave his fan girls one less reason to chase after him.

Naruto would probably not have any problems too, she supposed, as he often set Sasuke as his rival and would come close to Sasuke's scores in the physical tests, except for target practice and Bunshin practice. He wasn't too bad at target practice, but he was no wonder at it either. Bunshin practice… if that were to come out for the exam, Naruto would be pretty much doomed to failure. Try as he might, he just could not create one good Bunshin.

Written tests weren't his forte, but since he knew so much about the Hokages and what they had done for the village, Sakura was certain he would be able to at least manage a pass. It was a good thing that he had Sakura and Sasuke as friends, she often told the blond haired boy, because he had started out with atrocious results in everything. It was only after the two had started tutoring him and after he had decided that he and Sasuke were lifelong rivals that he started to improve.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Sakura watched as the mentioned ran eagerly down the stairs, an odd smile on his face. She glanced questioningly at Sasuke, but the boy shrugged, a clueless look on his face. Sakura frowned slightly. She didn't like that strange look on Naruto's face – it foretold chaos.

"Henge!" Naruto yelled, and immediately Sakura's head thudded on her desk. Instead of taking on Iruka's appearance, he had instead transformed into a tall girl with very long blond hair, very large endowments, a very slim and lithe figure and a very playful look on her face. Not to mention that she was very much naked. The entire class was stunned into silence, the guys staring and blushing heavily, and the girls looking scandalized. Iruka's jaw hung open at an almost impossible length, his eyes popped wide open. A second later, he lay twitching on the floor, his nose bleeding, all dignity lost.

"How ya like that?" Naruto whooped, "I call it Oiroke no Jutsu!"

"Don't create stupid jutsus like that, you idiot!" Iruka screamed, plugging his nose and smacking Naruto on his head.

-----

"Hey, Sakura, what do you think is going to come out for the exam?" Naruto asked as the trio walked down the streets to the academy. Sakura shrugged. Even though she had one heck of a brain didn't mean she could read the minds of the teachers! "Sakura!" Naruto whined, poking his face in front of hers, causing Sakura to sigh and shove him away irritably.

"I don't know… Bunshin, maybe?" She grinned evilly as Naruto's face paled considerably. Sasuke himself couldn't resist smirking as Naruto started flailing wildly and tried out his Bunshin no Jutsu, to no avail. A few minutes later – after creating a whole bunch of defective and useless Bunshins – Sasuke and Sakura had dragged Naruto away from the curious townspeople, who were starting to wonder just exactly who the blond haired boy was, and what he was doing swearing loudly every time he created a Bunshin. As the group approached the academy, Sakura caught sight of Naruto's rather… despondent expression, and decided that she ought to cheer him up.

"Cheer up, Naruto! Think of it this way – Bunshins are supposed to distract and confuse the enemy, and yours are so awful that they serve that very purpose!"

Whoops.

Sasuke massaged his temples as Naruto's mood worsened and Sakura realized that she had said the wrong thing. Had the girl… somehow… inherited Naruto's tactlessness? He watched as Naruto slumped to the ground, pouting, and as Sakura quickly tried to make up. He sighed, grabbed hold of Naruto and began to drag him to the school.

"Come on, the exam is starting." He said as Naruto regained his balance and wriggled out of Sasuke's grip.

"But… Bunshin!" Naruto murmured helplessly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it won't come out for the exam, it was tested in the previous year's exam already anyway." Naruto's face brightened.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Sakura added, "It'll all be okay, Naruto!"

"Alright! Today I'll pass, get my forehead protector and become an official ninja!" Naruto cheered, his depression vanishing in record time, and he charged into the school in excitement. The other two followed after exchanging exasperated looks, and caught up just as Naruto flung the classroom doors open, announcing his arrival loudly, much to Iruka's annoyance.

"As I was saying, before Naruto so… graciously… interrupted me, today's exam will involve the Bunshin no Jutsu." He paused and glanced around at the class, which was strangely silent. He noted that all of them were staring at the same thing. Naruto. He turned and examined the boy, who was standing smack in the middle of the doorway, eyes shut and mouth drawn in a thin straight line. Sakura and Sasuke, who had been standing behind Naruto, started inching away cautiously.

Naruto's eyes flared open.

"WHAT?!"

-----

The sun was setting, wrapping the sky in a glorious blaze of crimson and molten gold. A gentle breeze swept across the massive city of Konoha, lightly plucking leaves from trees and tossing them into the air, and from there they slowly fluttered down towards the ground. Naruto sat on top of the Hokage monument forlornly, his eyes glazed over, the usual grin absent from his face. He could hear the sounds of children excitedly telling their parents that they had successfully passed the examination in the distance, and he grimaced, lowering his head into his clothes, trying to block out the noise.

Both Sakura and Sasuke had gone before him, and had passed the exam easily. He had watched as they put on their forehead protectors proudly, broad smiles on their faces. He remembered them encouraging him as he nervously entered the examination hall, and he remembered them saying that he would definitely pass. He remembered seeing two unfamiliar Chuunins glare down at him with those same unfriendly, cold gazes the townspeople often gave him. Iruka stood at the back of the examination hall and gave Naruto an encouraging smile as the blond stepped forward.

He had tried his best, he really did, but it just wasn't enough. The Bunshin he created was, as usual, defective. As the examiner announced that he had failed – Naruto hadn't missed the gleeful look on his face, too – Naruto slowly trudged over to the exit dejectedly. Iruka and another Chuunin tried speaking up for Naruto, but to no avail. Mizuki, the other Chuunin was called. Naruto appreciated his kindness, but inwardly flinched as the two examiners glared at him and said: "Such a brat doesn't deserve to pass. His Bunshin is utterly useless, not to mention that he is…" He silenced himself as his partner elbowed him, but that same condescending smirk remained fixed on his face.

Unable to stand it any longer, Naruto fled from the room, taking extra care to make sure that Sasuke and Sakura did not spot him.

He heard the sound of a footstep behind him, and he glanced up in surprise, and took in the face of Mizuki. The Chuunin had an apologetic look on his face as he came closer, though Naruto didn't know what he was sorry for.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you back there, Naruto." Mizuki said with a tiny, sad smile.

"It's okay… they were right, my Bunshin was useless anyway." Naruto muttered, returning his gaze to the landscape of Konoha. He curled up into a tight ball, and buried his face into his lap. Mizuki continued to stare at him, a thoughtful look on his face. Had Naruto looked up at that exact moment, he would have caught the faintest glimmer of a sly smirk flashing across Mizuki's face. But Naruto didn't look up, not until Mizuki spoke again.

"You know… there is another way you can pass the exam… would you like me to tell you?"

-----

"Hey, Sasuke! Did you see Naruto anywhere?" Sakura called as the raven-haired boy emerged from the academy. She sighed as Sasuke shook his head. Naruto had been missing for almost an hour now, and the two of them had been searching for him ever since they overheard some students say that Naruto had failed the academy examination. Not that they were particularly successful, Naruto had never lost a game of hide-and-seek with them. Ever. They were worried for the boy, they knew that he had been looking forward to passing the exam much more than any of them did, and now that he was missing and news had it he failed the exam, they weren't sure what Naruto would be doing.

"Hey, isn't that him?" Sasuke pointed, and Sakura whirled around, only to see Naruto charging past the academy, an eager look on his face. Huffing in righteous anger, she drew in her breath and screamed Naruto's name, and the boy glanced over.

"What are you doing?" She asked, bordering on going ballistic on Naruto. Sasuke quickly moved away. "We've been looking for you for one hour!" The Uchiha marveled at how fearsome the girl could be when she wanted to, watching bemusedly as she jabbed her finger into Naruto's chest over and over, while Naruto backed away nervously.

"Err… I kinda… failed the exam, but Mizuki-sensei said that I could pass if I sneak into the Hokage-geezer's home, find some scroll and master the skills written in it!" Sakura fell silent, taking in the new information. Almost immediately, she frowned. She had never heard of such a test before, but then again Chuunins were given the freedom to set any sort of test they wanted for the academy exam. However, stealing from the Hokage… test or no, it was still a very serious offense.

"Are you sure he said that, Naruto?" It seemed that Sasuke had his suspicions as well. Naruto nodded energetically.

"Yeah! And I have to hurry, Mizuki-sensei said that I had only till twelve tonight!" He turned and started to run, but Sasuke grabbed hold of his shirt.

"Wait, I'll go too." Both Naruto and Sakura were surprised.

"Eh? But you already passed!" Naruto said in confusion.

"Doesn't mean I can't help you pass too." Sasuke smirked. "Stealing from the Hokage is no easy feat, you know. Besides, Mizuki-sensei never said anything about getting help from others, did he?" Naruto grinned.

"I'm coming too!" Sakura chirped, not wanting to be left out of all the action. The two of them were her best friends, too, so that was even more reason for her to go!

"Thanks… you guys are awesome!" Naruto laughed, and Sakura flashed him a thumbs-up.

-----

The trio crept silently down the corridor to the Hokage's study, where Mizuki had told Naruto the scroll would be kept. They knew that the Hokage's home wasn't guarded by elite ninja, because the Hokage was supposed to be the strongest of all the Konoha ninjas, and this worked to their advantage, since having to do battle with a Jounin or even an ANBU would spell their end. They were just about to open the door to a room, when suddenly…

"What are the three of you doing in my house so late at night?" Sarutobi asked gruffly, smoking his pipe. He sighed. The things kids do to kill time these days!

Sasuke whirled around, mentally cursing himself for not paying attention to his surroundings, for not being able to notice the Hokage sneaking up on them. Not that his skills would do them any good, he knew, after all, the Hokage _was_ far stronger than any of them, even if he was a perverted old geezer, as Naruto often said. He wasn't sure what to do, what to say to get them out of this mess. He hadn't counted on them being caught by the Hokage!

"We… er… we…" Sakura was at an equal loss for words.

"Well, get along now, I have work to do, you know." Sarutobi said, shooing them away. Then he frowned. Naruto was doing some pretty suspicious hand seals…

"Oiroke no Jutsu!"


	8. Unexpected

The trio came to a rest underneath a large tree in the middle of the forest, and there Naruto spread the huge scroll out for all to see. It was massive – the scroll was almost as tall as Naruto was, and they had no doubt that very, very powerful techniques were written in it. Though the blond-haired boy had yet to notice anything, his two closest friends were already starting to form suspicions at the back of their minds. Something was very wrong here, and they felt that they were being watched.

"Eeeehhhh?! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" Naruto whined as he looked through the first technique listed in the scroll. "Damn, why must the first thing they show in here be my worst skill?" Sasuke peered over his shoulder, curious. This was the first time he had heard of a variation of the Bunshin, and if it was listed here, in this scroll, surely it had to have fairly enormous powers. Sakura, on the other hand, was stunned to hear the name. In her studies, she had come across the technique's name a few times. Kage Bunshin, as she recalled, was a Jounin-level technique, and even then, usually only those from ANBU knew of the existence of it. This was something too demanding of a mere graduation examination. She started to voice her opinion, but Naruto had already gotten to his feet and was trying the technique out.

She turned to Sasuke, hoping that the Uchiha prodigy would pay her some attention, but to her dismay he was already scanning through the scroll for a technique that would interest him. Sighing, and deciding that she might as well seize the opportunity to learn something new, she dropped to her knees next to the scroll and joined Sasuke in looking through it. She noted that Sasuke was generally interested in the section labeled: "Fire Jutsus". She frowned and crossed that section out mentally. Katon jutsus mostly took up a massive amount of chakra, and she was well aware that her chakra reserves were unsuited for such techniques.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, his voice echoing in the forest, but nothing happened. He uttered a swift curse and tried again. He tried to recall what his two friends had always been telling me about creating Bunshins.

_Generate a fixed amount of chakra, and mold the chakra into a physical replica of myself._

He recalled the words on the scroll.

_The Kage Bunshin… A Bunshin created in a far more complex manner as compared to the basic Bunshin. Breaking a Kage Bunshin down, it is made up of a physical shell molded in the shape of the user, and within that physical shell is a certain amount of chakra, an amount determined by the user's chakra reserves at the time of usage of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu._

Naruto clutched at his head and moaned; he had almost no idea what the stupid scroll was saying. At the same time, Sasuke stood up from where he was, eager to try out a new fire jutsu the scroll had mentioned. It had no specific name, but scroll referred to it as the Fire Shuriken technique. He performed the seals as mentioned in the scroll, and then drew in a deep breath to provide the chakra he had gathered with the oxygen necessary to ignite it. Then he performed a few more seals as dictated and blew out a mixture of air and chakra, watching as they reacted during the very moment they left his mouth, forming a tiny ball of fire. He frowned as the ball dissipated.

_The Fire Shuriken… a variation of the Goukakyu technique. It is, in essence, a delayed version of the Goukakyu no Jutsu. The user concentrates the fireball into one or more highly concentrated and volatile small objects. These objects can take on any shape, but in general most users go for a shuriken or kunai shape, hence the name. The objects then explode upon contact, creating a delayed effect. Be warned, this technique is a high risk one, should the jutsu be performed without the right amount of chakra and chakra control, the fire shuriken will explode upon leaving the user's mouth or along the way to the intended target, which can cause serious injury to the user._

He could recall the words, and he was eager to see the technique in action. Gathering the necessary amount of chakra, he tried again and again, ignoring the little bit of text added by the Hokage beneath the description of the technique.

_This technique has ceased being taught because it has resulted in many serious injuries over the years. Only those who have confidence in their chakra reserves and their level of control should attempt to learn this technique._

Sakura read through the scroll, and focused her attention on the sections of Genjutsu and Chakra Control. Something caught her eye, and she read through it. When she was done, she smiled. It was a fairly simple technique – basically it involved using chakra to enhance the bodily functions and muscles of fixed parts of her body. Most people used a simpler version: channeling the chakra such that it wrapped around the part of the body, doing additional damage. It was an obvious technique, however, as the chakra could be easily seen hovering around the person, and an enemy with decent reflexes would be able to dodge the blow easily.

This technique was different. The chakra was channeled and molded internally, and hence could not be seen. In addition to increasing the damage of the user's physical attacks, it would also increase the speed of the user, and hence it was a technique far more difficult to avoid as compared to the simpler version. It was not without any side effects, however… use it too many times, and the muscles would be overstrained, causing the user to have to rest for days to let the muscles heal.

Sakura followed what the scroll said. She first generated some chakra, then focused on flowing the chakra, molding and merging the chakra within her bones and muscles within her hands. Almost immediately, she felt a startling change. She felt stronger, lighter, and she walked up to a tree, unleashing a powerful punch at it.

_Ow._

Hissing in pain, she drew her fist back, recalling that the chakra was working _inside _her body, not _outside. _There would be no chakra to help absorb the impact of her attack. She looked up, and then her jaw fell open. Embedded in the trunk of the tree was an imprint of her fist, almost a full centimeter thick. Under normal circumstances the tree would be unscathed, and all she would get was a bloodied fist. She quickly returned to the scroll and read through it again. There was another bit about increasing speed without straining leg muscles, and she studied it. It was a more complex version of the technique she had just used.

The one she had just used involved placing a fixed amount of chakra in a certain body part, and was strictly one use only, which meant that after a punch, or a kick, or something else that involved usage of that certain body part, the chakra would dissipate. The more complex version kept a steady flow of chakra going into the body parts, which meant that the chakra would not dissipate after use, and if the user was not doing anything, his or her physical prowess would increase gradually. It was a similar concept to flowing chakra through the body in order to heal it. However, chakra in its natural state would heal simply injuries, and no more, and for this technique the chakra would have to be specifically molded to enhance bodily functions, as she had done earlier.

In other words, a phenomenal amount of chakra control was needed, not to mention that the chakra reserves of the user would be depleted at a rapid rate. Sakura returned to the tree and tried it again, this time concentrating on keeping a steady flow of chakra into her hands. She punched the tree again, but she felt that something was wrong. The flow had been broken – her concentration had weakened when she focused some of it into punching the tree. She scowled; this technique was going to take her some time. She concentrated again, shutting her eyes to help her.

She could feel the chakra flowing within her, strengthening her… She opened her eyes…

And found herself staring into Naruto's face.

"Boo."

"Arrrgghh!" She screamed, unconsciously punching the face away. Then she paled as Naruto sailed through the air with a cry of pain and landed on the ground with a thud. She was just about to run over and check on him when Naruto vanished in a cloud of smoke.

_What the?_

"Sakura, you destroyed my Bunshin." Naruto whined from behind her. She whirled around, and saw the Uzumaki seated on a rock a short distance away from her, a distinct pout on his face. There were no injuries that she could see. But that was impossible… if that wasn't Naruto she had punched, and was a Bunshin… how could it be? It felt solid, and had clearly made a sound when it hit the ground. No ordinary Bunshin could do that.

_Kage Bunshin…_

"Naruto… you succeeded in doing the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" She asked, stunned. A Jounin-level technique, and he had already learned it? Naruto nodded slowly.

"Yeah… sort of, but I can only make one Bunshin so far." He grinned at her. "I'm going to keep trying, though!"

-----

It had already been a few hours since they started practicing their techniques. It was nearing twelve – the deadline Mizuki had set. Sakura had already long ago depleted her chakra reserves, and was resting under a tree. Not long after, Sasuke joined her; he, too, had used up most of his chakra. Only Naruto was left standing, creating Kage Bunshins. His stamina was astounding – although he was winded, he showed no signs of slowing down. He was up to the stage where he could create multiple Kage Bunshins without difficulty, and the scroll had revealed a follow-up to the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

Kage Bunshin – Sai.

What it did was to take the chakra reserve within the Kage Bunshin, and manipulate it such that all the chakra flowed to any one fixed point within the body. The intense ball of chakra would then have to be expanded outwards at such a rapid rate that it resulted in the clone exploding, causing severe damage to the surrounding areas. That was the simpler version of Kage Bunshin – Sai. The more complex version was to expand the chakra to breaking point and leave it there. Once the clone was attacked and its outer shell destroyed, the chakra would explode outwards, injuring the enemy or killing him if the amount of the chakra was substantial enough.

The simpler version already required a fair deal of chakra control, the more complex version was very difficult to accomplish, because the chakra would have to be maintained at breaking point. A slip in the control would either result in the enemy punching the clone and destroying it without anything happening, or result in the clone exploding prematurely.

Naruto had been trying that jutsu for some time now, but he had gotten absolutely no results whatsoever so far. That didn't deter him, however. Sasuke and Sakura both watched as he tried over and over again, amused. Sasuke had yet to perfect the Fire Shuriken; the little kunai he shot out often detonated in midair, though he managed to get it a safe distance away from himself. Sakura had not made any progress on the chakra control technique.

Sasuke froze suddenly. Next to him, Sakura tensed, wondering what was wrong. The Uchiha frowned as she tried to ask him what was wrong. Shaking his head, he put a finger to his lips. He had heard a strange sound, the sound of someone stepping on a tree branch. Was it Mizuki? He got to his feet and tried to get Naruto's attention, but he was too slow. A split second later, a figure leapt down from the trees in front of the blond-haired boy.

It was Iruka.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Iruka yelled at the boy, and both Sasuke and Sakura took note of the frustration and panic in his tone. Something was very wrong. "Do you realize what you have done?"

"I haven't done anything." Naruto tilted his head to a side, confused. "Mizuki-sensei told me to get this scroll in order to pass the academy exam." Iruka's eyes widened, then they flashed briefly above Naruto. He swore under his breath, and knocked Naruto away just as a hail of shuriken and kunai came flying, embedding in his flesh and slamming him into a tree painfully.

"Mizuki! You…!" Iruka spat as the other Chuunin came into view, standing upon a tree with a smirk on his face. "What are you planning to do?!" Sasuke nodded to Sakura, and the two of them vanished into the treetops, getting ready to attack. Mizuki was obviously a traitor – no Konoha ninja would attack another.

"Since you're going to die anyway, I might as well tell you. I'm going to take the scroll from this brat here," Mizuki casually pointed a kunai in Naruto's direction, "And learn all the techniques in it, then sell it to other countries. I'll be rich!"

"But why?" Naruto was confused. "Didn't you say that I could pass the academy exam if I got this scroll?" Mizuki began to laugh cruelly.

"Silly boy, did you honestly believe that I was going to do that? If you had gotten hold of the scroll, then I would have stolen it from you, killed you and sold it for money. Your death would simply be an unfortunate accident." Naruto was horrified.

"K-kill me?"

"What's the matter? Scared?" Mizuki sneered. "Goodness, you're such a weakling. Completely unlike what you _used_ to be." At those words, Iruka's head snapped up, his eyes wide. Sasuke and Sakura paused. What did Mizuki mean?

"Don't say it! Don't say anything!" Iruka yelled, panicked. Naruto, on the other hand, was growing increasingly confused as he looked from Iruka to Mizuki.

"What I used to be? What do you mean?" Naruto asked. Mizuki grinned.

"Mizuki! Don't say anything!" Iruka struggled to get to his feet. "Don't you dare say anything about it!"

"Or what? What can you do, Iruka-sensei?" Mizuki mocked. He turned to Naruto. "Didn't you know? You're the Kyubi, boy. It's inside of you." Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all froze. That wasn't possible – their history textbooks had all stated that the Kyubi had been killed by the Yondaime years ago when it attacked the village of Konoha.

"Don't listen to all the lies written by the textbooks," Mizuki smirked, as though he had read their minds, "The Kyubi is very much still alive, and it's inside you!" He pointed at Naruto, who involuntarily took one step backwards. "Didn't you ever wonder why the people of Konoha hate you so much? It's because you destroyed their home and killed their loved ones all the years back! And didn't you realize that your birthday falls on the same day as the Festival of the Fallen?" The Festival of the Fallen was a holiday in Konoha, a day where people celebrated the supposed death of Kyubi and mourned the death of those who had died fighting it valiantly. Naruto's eyes were wide and staring, his face pale.

"I… I'm the Kyubi?" He whispered to himself.

"Everyone hates you, Kyubi-brat, and my killing you would simply be a blessing for them! Nobody will mourn you! Even Iruka-sensei here… I'm sure that deep inside, he hates you!" At those words, something inside Naruto seemed to snap. Even Iruka? The one person he looked up to? The one person he saw as a fatherly figure? Even Iruka hated him? Naruto let out a feral growl, and for a moment, his eyes flashed a crimson red. Mizuki and Iruka didn't notice it, but Naruto's two friends did, and they felt a wave of pure, abject terror wash over them.

"Now, die!" Mizuki flung a giant shuriken at Naruto, aiming for his chest. The blow never came, however, as Iruka threw himself between Naruto and the weapon, and it embedded itself in his back. Naruto stared at Iruka, surprise evident on his face.

"Why?" He choked, tears springing into his eyes. "Why?"

"Naruto… ever since my parents died, I've been lonely. I was just like you, always playing pranks, trying to get the attention of the others. It was my way of making me feel like I belonged. I know how you feel, Naruto. It was the Third who saved me from my misery, he taught me to be a respectable ninja, and he brought me up. I want to do the same for you, Naruto." Naruto stared at him, his eyes wide.

"Do you expect him to believe you, Iruka?" Mizuki called. "He's the demon fox! Now, Naruto… hand over the scroll, or I'll kill you, and Iruka!" Naruto clutched at the scroll and narrowed his eyes, shifting himself to stand in front of Iruka. Mizuki scowled, and flung several kunai at Naruto. They never found their target, however, as several more flew out from the trees and deflected them. Naruto, Iruka and Mizuki stared in surprise as Sasuke and Sakura made their presence known by jumping down to the ground.

"You two… students from the academy." Mizuki muttered. "I assume you two overheard what I just said? Why are you defending the demon fox? He probably killed many of your parents' friends, and would have killed your parents too if he hadn't been stopped!"

"Shut up." Sasuke snapped. "You're annoying." Sakura nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, Naruto isn't Kyubi! He's our friend!"

"He isn't the demon fox…" Iruka managed to say, "He's… my student, my pride… he's a proud ninja of Konoha!" At this, Naruto's tears began to run freely. Here were people who accepted him, who believed in him, people he would be proud to defend with his life, people whom he would protect till the day he died. They were the ones who were different from the others, different from those who hated him.

"Fools, all of you!" Mizuki screamed, vanishing from his perch atop the tree. He reappeared next to Sakura, and backhanded her. She cried out in pain as she fell to the floor next to Iruka. Next, he drew his kunai and began to attack Sasuke, who dodged his blows with relative ease. The Uchiha was unable to get in any attacks, however, and all he could do was defend himself. Naruto stared, his eyes wide, as Sakura slowly got up, touching the bruise on her face gingerly. Then his gaze went to Iruka, who was breathing heavily and bleeding profusely as he pulled the weapons out of his body.

Naruto growled, his eyes narrowing and turning dilated. With a burst of speed, he flung himself at Mizuki and punched him across the face, sending the Chuunin flying to the ground. Naruto stood firm in front of the Chuunin, planting the scroll in the soil. Sasuke stared, surprised. Since when had Naruto been able to move that quickly?

"Don't you dare touch my friends… I'll beat you up!" He snarled.

"Ha! What can you do? For a brat like you, just a punch from me would kill you!" Mizuki grinned, getting to his feet. Sasuke tensed, ready to help Naruto, although he wasn't sure how much use that would be. But as he soon realized, Naruto wouldn't need any help at all. All watched as Naruto quickly did some hand seals, and then…

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The entire area was suddenly filled with Naruto clones, hundreds of them, all leering at Mizuki, who was looking about frantically.

"How can this be?" He cried. Everyone else was too stunned by the spectacle to say anything.

_Naruto… you… _Iruka was shocked. Naruto had just pulled off a Jounin-level jutsu perfectly.

_You're awesome, Naruto! _Inner Sakura howled, punching the air around her. Sakura simply stared, a faint smile dancing on her lips.

_Naruto… just how strong are you? _Sasuke wondered, a tiny smirk gracing his face.

"I thought you said you were going to kill me with one punch?" Naruto smirked. "Try it!" And with that, the clones leapt at Mizuki. Moments later, the clones vanished, and the Chuunin slumped to the ground, unconscious from the severe beating he had received. Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his head.

"I guess I overdid it."

-----

Uchiha Itachi walked down the corridors of the Akatsuki headquarters silently, brooding. He had been working in the organization for years now, and had been assigned a partner, Hoshigake Kisame, a Missing Nin from the Rain village. From their assignments together, Itachi had realized that Kisame had little loyalty to the organization. As a matter of fact, the only reason he had joined in the first place was because he had guessed that the missions would help him grow stronger, and because he had hoped to find someone to match his abilities. He had found all that and more. In their very first duel, Itachi had utterly defeated him, and Kisame had since a very strong respect for the Uchiha.

But as he brooded, Itachi realized that in the entire Akatsuki organization, he only knew a few people – Kisame, the leader, and…

"Uchiha Itachi…" A soft, venomous voice. Itachi looked up, and saw that he had unwittingly walked into a large chamber. "How would you like to have a duel with me?" Itachi frowned as the owner of the voice stepped into view.

Orochimaru.

Itachi tensed, drawing a kunai and preparing for battle. He was fairly certain of his abilities and he had no doubt that in normal circumstances, he would be able to defeat Orochimaru in battle, however narrowly. But that was the Orochimaru of the past, the Orochimaru who had just escaped from Konoha. He wasn't sure of the capabilities of this Orochimaru, one who had years to train and better himself. He smirked. This would be a good opportunity for himself to measure Orochimaru's abilities, and he was sure that the snake was intending to do the same, though for what reason, he wasn't completely sure.

"Are you ready, Uchiha?" Orochimaru's voice was mocking, and Itachi scowled. _Does the snake not take me seriously? _He was just about to attack, when suddenly…

"That is enough, Uchiha, Orochimaru." A calm voice floated into the chamber. "Uchiha, the leader calls for you. You have a mission to perform." Orochimaru cursed as the figure stepped into view. This was unexpected. Knowing that there was nothing he could do, and knowing full well that it was suicide to go against the leader's wishes, Orochimaru decided to take his leave.

"We will continue our duel another time, Uchiha." He hissed, and vanished into the shadows. Itachi did not hear Orochimaru's words. He stared at the figure, confused, perplexed and stunned beyond words. For the first time in his life, Uchiha Itachi found himself utterly baffled and unable to explain the sight before him.

"Hyuga… Hizashi."


	9. Hatake Kakashi

A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the long delay in putting this chapter up, life's been pretty busy lately, and to be honest, I found this chapter rather difficult to write. O.o

* * *

For the first time ever since the year had started, Iruka found himself stepping into a lively environment close to bursting with excitement. No longer did the students stare at him dully from their seats within the classroom – they sat in groups, talking excitedly about which teams they hoped to be in, and wondering who their Jounin instructors were going to be. He glanced down at the list of teams in his hands, and sighed wistfully. After he made this announcement, he would be bidding farewell to his students. Though they had been naughty, disobedient and at times made him want to tear out his hair and scream in frustration, they were, to him, his precious students.

"Okay, class!" He said loudly, "Settle down, I know you're all eager to know your teams!" He watched, amused, as the students clambered back to their seats and stared at him, broad grins on their faces. He could see the tension on everyone's faces, and his attention was in particular focused on the three of his favorite students.

Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto.

Sakura was being cornered by Ino, the blond girl pestering her, as usual, for information on Sasuke's likes and dislikes, and how she could get to be Sasuke's girlfriend. Shikamaru and Chouji were close by. Having denied Sakura's pleas for help, knowing better than to incur Ino's unholy wrath, Shikamaru was fast asleep and Chouji was happily munching away on a bag of chips.

Sasuke and Naruto were hanging out together in one corner of the class, as they always did, Naruto recounting his beating up of Mizuki and his usage of the Kage Bunshin (conveniently leaving out the bit about him being Kyubi) to the other guys in class. The boys had been skeptical at first, but once Sasuke had said that every bit of the story was true, they had been staring at Naruto with newfound respect and hanging mouths.

"Team 7! Uchiha Sasuke!" At those words, everyone quickly turned their attention back to Iruka. Naruto and Sakura wanted to be on Sasuke's team for obvious reasons, the guys wanted to be Sasuke's teammate for the reason that he was strong and could help them better themselves (and hopefully score some girls in the process), whilst the girls… well… they simply couldn't get enough of the raven-haired genius.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" All the guys in the class scowled as Naruto whooped loudly and slapped Sasuke on his shoulder. The girls all held their breaths, willing their names to be the next one to be called, staring so intently at Iruka that he began to feel nervous.

"Haruno Sakura!" Sakura immediately fled to Naruto and Sasuke's sides as the girls simultaneously whipped around to glare at her, their eyes filled with so much killer intent that if looks could kill, the Hokage would find himself having to inform the citizens of Konoha of a massacre at Konoha Academy.

Iruka smiled ruefully to himself as he continued to read out the groupings. Truth be told, Naruto had not been meant to be in Team 7, considering that each team was supposed to be balanced, with a strong ninja, an average one, and a weak one. Sasuke, being the top of the class, was to have been paired with the poorest ninja in the class – possibly Shikamaru, considering his abysmal grades and overall performance. However, the Hokage had personally requested Iruka to group all 3 students together. When Iruka had questioned why, all the Hokage would say was: "It would be interesting to watch them grow stronger as a team."

Iruka suspected that the Hokage had been watching the three of them the night Mizuki tried to kill Naruto, though he couldn't be exactly sure. But there was something about the Hokage's smile that made him certain that the Hokage had grouped the three of them together for a special reason.

Once done, Iruka waited for the excitement to die down, and then began to speak.

"Now that you all know your groupings, please sit with your fellow teammates and wait for your Jounin instructor to arrive. As of now, you're officially qualified as proud ninjas of Konoha." At this, Iruka swept his gaze across the room proudly, looking upon his students, who were wearing the forehead protector of Konoha with pride. "Do Konoha, your instructors, and yourselves proud. That is all I have to say. Congratulations on passing the examination." As he turned to leave, the class began applauding and cheering. Smiling as he closed the door behind him, he paused just as a group of students, with Team 7 in it, stood up and yelled: "Iruka-sensei! You're the best!"

Okay, so maybe the only ones that yelled were Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke merely smiled and waved, the girls were too busy imitating Sasuke, and staring at him, and the guys were too busy celebrating their graduation, but Iruka didn't really care.

After all, they were all his precious students.

* * *

Naruto was bored.

And as all teachers of the academy know, there is nothing more dangerous than a bored Naruto.

"I'm bored!" Naruto declared, his simple statement enough the strike fear into the hearts of his teachers and send them fleeing out of the building before Naruto brought it down around them. The blond-haired ninja stretched and yawned loudly, then plopped despondently down on his seat, having already explored every inch of the classroom at least a couple hundred times. Sakura wasn't feeling any much better; she had long ago given up on trying to keep up with Naruto as he leapt from table to table, then from table to the ceiling light, and then onto some chairs, and then onto something else. Sasuke had a bit of a scowl on his face, though it probably would have been far more pronounced had he not been watching Naruto bounce, jump, trip, roll and do all sorts of crazy things in the classroom for the past…

3…

Hours.

"Where is our instructor?" Sasuke demanded of nobody in particular. "Everyone already left ages ago!"

"Maybe he forgot that we're waiting for him?" Sakura suggested.

"Some instructor…" Naruto muttered, "Forgetting to come to pick up his new team. That's like Shikamaru."

"Maybe our instructor's Shikamaru's dad!" Sakura gasped in horror. Sasuke stared at her with wide eyes, as did Naruto.

"You think so? Then we probably will be better off training ourselves everyday." Sasuke groaned.

"Yeah! Shikamaru's such a lazy bum, so Shikamaru's dad is probably like… a Mega Shikamaru or something! Ultra laziness! Complaining about everything!" Naruto looked horrified at the thought. And so they went on, scaring one another with speculations on who their instructor could be, their imaginations running wild, growing increasingly vivid.

And so, when the door slid open, and a man popped in with a "Yo!", Sakura had screamed and ducked behind Sasuke, who had in turn gotten to his feet, ready to fight, while Naruto unleashed a fearsome yell and flung a kunai at the instructor.

Hatake Kakashi caught the kunai effortlessly in his hand, raising an elegant eyebrow ever so slightly, perplexed.

"Well, what can I say?" He mused. "My first impression of your guys is that… you all are weird."

* * *

"Let's start with introductions, then, shall we?" Kakashi said cheerfully as the group settled down on the rooftop of the academy, where a pleasant breeze was blowing. The three of them sat close to one another, and tried to put as much distance between themselves and their instructor as possible. "I'll go first. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My dreams are none of your business, my hobbies are too horrific to describe to innocent little children such as you," He paused and watched in amusement as Sakura twitched, and the two boys go slightly paler. "What I like and what I dislike are up to you to figure out on your own."

"… So in the end all he gave us was his name…" Sasuke thought to himself.

"You! The one with that killer-bright-orange jumpsuit! You start." Kakashi pointed at Naruto, who scowled at the insult directed towards his clothing.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! My dream is to become the Hokage of Konoha!" He said proudly, puffing out his chest. Nobody noticed, but at that moment, Kakashi's impassive eyes softened, and his mouth twisted into a small smile. "What an interesting lad…" He thought.

"My hobbies are playing pranks and hanging out with Sasuke and Sakura! I like ramen, and I dislike the waiting time for ramen to cook."

"The girl with the pink hair, you next." Kakashi drawled.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, and my dream is to become as great a medic-nin as the legendary Tsunade!" Her dream had mostly been inspired by the time she spent in the Konoha library, reading up on its history, and had also been influenced by her wild escapades with Sasuke and Naruto, all three often ending up bruised. When she realized that her precise control of chakra enabled her to heal faster, she had started reading up on the medical branch of Konoha ninjas, and had been hooked on the idea of being a medic-nin ever since. "My hobbies are reading and messing around with the two of them." She smiled.

"I like being around friends," She said simply, "And I dislike people who make fun of my forehead."

"Alright, you next." Kakashi pointed at Sasuke.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. My dream is to surpass my older brother, and to prove his innocence, as well as to learn the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre." Kakashi inwardly heaved a sigh of relief at this. "Good, looks like he's going to be easier to handle than I had expected."

"I don't particularly have any hobbies other than hanging out with Naruto and Sakura. I like training, and I dislike people who put my older brother down."

"I see… so you kids like to mess around together, huh?" Kakashi observed. "Good, that makes it easier for me to handle you guys as a team. Meet me at the training area tomorrow at 7 in the morning. We're going to do a bit of survival training."

"What? We've done plenty of that in academy!" Naruto protested, then gulped when Kakashi's eyes gleamed slyly.

"This one is going to be quite different…" And though the Jounin's facial expression remained passive and bored, Sasuke could have sworn that Kakashi was laughing at them. "Oh, and don't eat any breakfast, or you'll throw up." With that, the Jounin vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the three young ninjas staring, bewildered.

"How can survival training be different? It's just… survival. Training." Naruto scratched his head. "And what did he mean by 'don't eat any breakfast'? That's crazy!" He started flailing his arms wildly. "I can't do anything without a good breakfast! I need my ramen!"

"Well, since we're not going to be eating anything tomorrow morning, we might as well go eat as much as we can right now." Sasuke suggested, glancing at Naruto, knowing that the ever-hungry boy wouldn't pass up a chance to pay a visit to Ichiraku Ramen. And judging by the whoops from Sakura that he could hear behind him, the girl didn't quite mind going for some ramen either. More often than not, when the three of them ate together, Sasuke ended up paying for their meal, considering that he had been left behind a huge inheritance.

A humongous inheritance.

Naruto's eyes had bugged out and nearly dropped out of his head when he had seen Sasuke's bankbook after the entire clan's wealth was transferred into his account, and Sakura had been struck speechless. Sasuke himself had been awed by the incredible amount of money at his disposal, and he guessed that even if he visited the most expensive places in Konoha about twenty times a day, everyday of the year, every year of the rest of his life, he would still have plenty of money to spare.

The cost of ramen, even if Naruto ate about thirty bowls per sitting, was pretty much insignificant to him. Naruto still insisted on paying him back someday, but judging from what he had seen of a Genin's pay, and the size of Naruto's tab, he wasn't going to be able to do that anytime soon.

"Let's go! Ramen goodness waits just ahead!" Naruto cheered, and tried to leap off the top of the building. He would have done so too, if Sakura hadn't grabbed hold of his shirt and forcefully drag him towards the stairs. Sasuke followed, suppressing a grin at the sight of Naruto pouting and protesting loudly, and Sakura bashing him over his head with his forehead protector for good measure.

Nearby, in the top of a tree, Kakashi smiled.

* * *

It was nine. And Kakashi still had not shown up.

Naruto and Sakura were so agitated that they had, by this time, started beating up an innocent training pole. Sasuke, in the meantime, was amusing himself by chucking all of his kunai and shuriken into a tree, then going over to pick them all up, going back to where Naruto and Sakura were, and tossing them at the tree again. The tree wasn't going to last much longer, though – Sasuke, growing increasingly frustrated, had started to hurl his weapons with more and more force.

And so it was when Kakashi finally showed up in a puff of smoke, he immediately had to lean to one side to dodge a kunai, and scratched his head and laughed nervously when Naruto and Sakura whipped around and fixed him with furious glares.

"YOU'RE LATE!" The duo screamed with enough fervor to scare the nearby birds out of the trees.

'Well…" Kakashi dragged the word, thinking of a plausible excuse to feed the young minds of the children – it wouldn't be too hard, seeing as how they were little kids. And little kids are all gullible. "I got lost on the road of life, and…"

"LIAR!"

Okay, maybe little kids weren't as gullible as he thought. 'Kids these days,' he thought to himself grimly, 'Just don't know how to trust adults anymore.'

"Okay, let's get straight down to business." At this, the three young ninjas sobered up immediately, and they huddled closer, listening carefully to his instructions. Kakashi held up two bells, and shook them a little. A crystal clear ring carried itself throughout the clearing. "I have two bells on me. The objective of this exercise is for each of you to retrieve a bell from me, if you get a bell – you pass. If you don't – you fail and go back to academy." The looks of shock and horror were apparent on their faces.

"What!" Naruto screamed. "But… we already passed the academy exams! We're Genins!" Kakashi glared at him.

"The academy examination was merely meant to see who had the _potential_ to become a Genin. The real test is up to the individual Jounin instructor assigned to each team."

"But, there are only 2 bells!" Sakura argued. "Doesn't that mean that one of us will definitely fail?" The Jounin smirked.

"Yes. Don't you know? This test has a 66.7 percent failure rate." All three ninjas stared at him incredulously. "The time is now 9 in the morning." Kakashi placed a clock on top of one of the training poles. "You have until 12 to get the bells from me. Oh, and I nearly forgot this." He placed two box lunches on the ground. "Each bell is equal to one lunch. I bet you guys are pretty hungry right about now, eh?" As he said this, their stomachs began to growl.

"So this was why he told us to skip breakfast…" Sasuke murmured as he rubbed his stomach.

You may use anything – Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, whatever. Come at me with killer intent and with all you have, or you won't even stand a chance. Ready? Go!"

And then they were gone.

* * *

"What do you think? He seemed pretty serious when he said there was a 66.7 failure rate…" Sakura asked. The three ninjas had met up in the forest a distance away from the clearing, where Kakashi stood staring at the river calmly. The two bells hung from his belt. "And something doesn't seem right about this test – why would they assign us to teams of three when they intended to break us up immediately after?"

"Seems like a ploy to split us up…" Sasuke said. "And it probably would have worked too, should we have been teamed up with other people."

"So, what do we do now?" Naruto questioned, as clueless as ever.

"Well… we obviously cannot take him head on, and certainly not one at a time. We're too weak compared to him. We'll have to attack him together, and plan carefully. Lots of ninjas stop at the Chuunin level… Him being a Jounin says a lot about his abilities." The pink-haired girl said thoughtfully.

"He doesn't look very impressive, though." Sasuke muttered, and Sakura smacked him on his head lightly.

"Never underestimate an opponent," She frowned, "I thought you would know that. He's fighting with just one eye – that means that he isn't going to be fighting us seriously… we should use that to our advantage."

Naruto could only look on as the conversation took place, no sure what to add. Sasuke and Sakura had started drawing diagrams with sticks on the ground, and he leaned over curiously.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I hope this works…" Sakura murmured after a while, and laid out the complete plan for the other two to hear. After she made sure that they were ready, all three took a moment to gather their nerves. Kakashi was still standing in the same spot impassively, but with all the time that they had taken to plan, he might have set up traps without them noticing.

"Alright, let's go!"

* * *

"You're coming alone?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow as Naruto burst through the foliage, hurling three kunai at him. He dodged all three easily, and then proceeded to evade Naruto's attacks as the blond-haired ninja released a series of clumsy punches and kicks. A few moments later, he caught hold of Naruto's foot and forced the younger ninja back, then reached deep into his waist-pouch. Naruto tensed – was he going to use weapons? A scroll, perhaps?

Kakashi pulled out a book.

"… What?" Naruto blubbered in obvious confusion. Kakashi flipped open the book, glanced through the first few pages and immediately a faint blush came on his face. He waved a hand casually at Naruto.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I can still defend myself…" He said in a distracted manner, which served only to infuriate Naruto. As Naruto came charging at him again, yelling wildly, Kakashi prepared to dodge the attack and counter it. He caught Naruto's fist, and was about to move swiftly behind the Genin when he sensed a surge of chakra from behind him.

"Katon – Goukakyu no Jutsu!" His eyes widened at the technique's name as he whipped around, only to see Sasuke standing a few meters away from him, and a gigantic fireball flying straight at him.

"Genins shouldn't have the necessary Chakra to use this technique!" Kakashi thought to himself in awe. He flipped out of the way, dodging the attack in the nick of time, watching as the fireball exploded where he was standing a few seconds before, wrapping Naruto in a massive cloud of dust and blocking him from view. "Looks like I have to stop fooling around…" He thought grimly, returning his book to his pouch. He landed neatly on the ground, then effortlessly caught the kunai Sasuke had thrown at him.

"You're not too bad, Sasuke." He said cheerfully, "But you're not good enough." Before he could say anymore, however, he heard a sound from behind, and jumped out of the way just as Sakura slammed her fist into the ground with such alarming strength that the a good portion of the ground cracked and split asunder, sending chunks of soil and rock into the air. She winced at the pain in her hand, but she managed to crack a smirk at Kakashi, who had been stunned speechless by the display. She came at him again, aiming another punch, but her speed was too slow and Kakashi evaded her attack easily, only to find himself facing a little orange projectile that was flying towards him at a rapid rate. Instincts told him to catch the weapon in his hand, but then he realized that something was amiss. There was an immense amount of chakra within the projectile, too much for it to simply be a kunai wrapped in a layer of chakra.

He sidestepped the projectile, expecting it to sail harmlessly past, but then he felt the concentrated chakra start to unravel itself. The projectile exploded. Sasuke had yet to perfect the technique, and the explosion had not scratched the fast-acting Jounin in the least, but it had served its purpose in distracting Kakashi. As Kakashi orientated himself within the cloud of dust, he avoided another of Sakura's attacks, and was just wondering where Naruto had gone when suddenly a large amount of water spilled all over the back of his head. Shaking his hair dry, he blinked.

'There's no water nearby to have done that, unless it was a Suiton jutsu, but then again there isn't any Suiton jutsu that does that." He thought to himself, feeling the back of his sopping wet hair.

"Oy, Kakashi!" He looked up, and saw a group of Narutos coming at him through the clearing dust, and as he punched one aside, he realized that they were Kage Bunshins. As he fought and picked them off one by one, the real Naruto suddenly charged in from the side, a blue orb in his hands. At the sight of the blue chakra in the shape of a ball, painful memories of his instructor came back to him forcefully, and for a full second he stood still, stunned.

_Yondaime…_

_Rasengan…_

Then logic took over, and he realized that the blue orb was nothing more than a ball of water wrapped in chakra. But the one second in which he had been distracted was more than enough. Sakura came from his side to attack, and he leapt backwards, and at that moment Sasuke quickly swiped the bells away from him.

The alarm clock rang.

Sasuke held the two bells up in the air proudly. All three ninjas smiled broadly – they had exhausted nearly all their chakra in their plan, but it had worked perfectly. Kakashi stood staring at them with wide eyes for a brief moment, then his face relaxed, and his mouth twisted into a smile.

"Impressive work, Team 7." He paused, looking at each of them. "The attack was well-coordinated and planned, and it looks like all three of you understand the objective of this exercise."

"Teamwork, isn't it?" Sakura asked, and Kakashi nodded.

"Yes, the entire point of the this exercise was to see if you could work well together as a team. When you're full-fledged ninjas, teamwork is fundamental to the success of your mission. On the battlefield, there is no time for you to bicker with your teammates. People say that ninjas who cannot follow orders in order to complete a mission are trash. But remember this…" His eyes glazed over slightly from old memories.

"People who don't care about their teammates at all, putting the mission above everything else, are worse than trash. Well done, you all pass."


	10. Himitsu Gensou

A/N: No, I haven't abandoned this story yet, although it seems like I have. Oo I do realize that it has been well over a year since I last updated, and that most of you have given up hope of ever seeing this story continuing. I apologize, I was heavily involved in school work (and exams) and shortly after that I was drafted into the army (I'm still there), so I haven't had a lot of time lately. :\ But I've finally managed to find myself some free time, so here I am. :D

Oh, and the first few chapters of the story were written way back before the second arc of the manga began, and before Kakashi Gaiden was released, so there are some discrepancies in this fic (in particular the details of Obito's death) I will be re-writing the first few chapters soon to work out these mistakes.

-----

The asylum was built out of the way of any of the major ninja cities, well inside a jungle so thick and devoid of sunlight, wrapped so thickly in an aura of mystery and death that most people avoided the place altogether. The asylum was a towering fortress built in the middle of a swamp, with gigantic trees grew overhead, forming a protective shelter and blocking out all sunlight, plunging the ground below into perpetual darkness. The building was built entirely out of thick metal and rock, used to hold the most dangerous of criminals ever to come from neighboring countries and villages. The complex was guarded by large groups of Jounins and ANBU, and it extended far below the ground, each level separated by a huge metal door destroyable only by the strongest of jutsus.

Nobody knew for certain where the Jounins and ANBU came from, although it was suspected by most that they came from the Village of Hidden Rain, the closest ninja establishment. 'Close' was an inaccurate term to describe the distance between the village and asylum, however – it was easily a few hundred kilometers away. There were rumors that the Jounins and ANBU were a mix from all the different villages, coming together to guard the asylum, a prison for the most dangerous criminals alive.

At the very bottom of the complex, in the most isolated and well-guarded cell, was their target.

Himitsu Gensou, the Master of Genjutsu.

Uchiha Itachi crouched on the ground, ignoring the muddy water that lapped over his sandals, although he felt a slight twinge of annoyance as his cloak absorbed the water and became heavier. It was heavy enough as it was – the inside of the cloak was lined with weights. His Sharingan flared and spun furiously as he observed the guards walking around the perimeter of the asylum, committing their routine and movements to memory. It was absolutely vital that they pull off the mission as silently and swiftly as possible, and that required precise timing.

Had he been in another place, he might have permitted himself a smirk, well aware of the irony. Here he was, a spy from Konoha in the ranks of Akatsuki, about to launch an operation that would very well undermine the safety of his hometown and that of its allies. He did not have a choice though. In order to maintain his position in Akatsuki as a spy, he had to gain the trust of the organization.

Gensou had been reputed to be unsurpassed in his ability to create the most convincing and powerful genjutsus, some powerful enough to drive their victims insane in seconds, others torturing their victims' minds so much that they ended up killing themselves to end the agony. It had taken 2 teams of ANBU and 1 team of Jounin to subdue and capture him, and that was only because he had exhausted almost all of his chakra over a period of a few weeks eluding capture and setting up genjutsus in the most unlikely of places to throw his enemies off his trail.

Itachi grimaced as he felt his eyes start to tire themselves out. Already he could feel the strain of keeping the Sharingan activated for prolonged periods. While it was a formidable weapon, one that had made the Uchiha clan one of the most feared clans all around, it was not without its weaknesses. People often said that anyone wielding the Sharingan could copy the movements and attacks of his or her opponent, and for those who had mastered it, could predict the movements of said opponent. However, what most people did not realize was that the Sharingan did not merely copy attacks – it copied everything the user was viewing, preserving the knowledge and memories. It was something akin to taking snapshots through the user's eyes every millisecond, saving the photograph into the mind of the user.

Needless to say, it was a huge strain on the user's mind. It was the main reason why most Uchihas went insane at a young age, or otherwise showed signs of developing strange personality traits that were never present before.

Next to him, Hoshigake Kisame huddled miserably next to a small campfire, carefully kept under control to avoid giving away their position.

"I know I've said many times that I like water," Kisame growled, "But this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Be silent." Hyuga Hizashi frowned at the blue-skinned man. "It is a mark of the leader's faith in our abilities that he assigned us this mission."

"Yeah, yeah… keep your pants on." Came the disgruntled reply.

Hizashi glared at him, resisting the urge to seal his chakra. Turning his attention back to the asylum, Hizashi activated his Byakugan and watched carefully.

"Hmm… There are a total of 8 Jounins patrolling the outer perimeter of the complex, traveling in pairs, and there are 2 teams of 4 ANBU supporting them from higher ground. Inside the complex, there are 2 Jounin guards standing watch over the main entrance, and 4 more patrolling the inside wall of the complex." He paused. "There are too many of them to engage in direct combat. We will have to take them out one group at a time."

"I see the 8 Jounins." Itachi acknowledged, having already memorized their movements and routine. "But I only see one ANBU team. Where's the other?" Hizashi pointed briefly at a tiny depression set in the trunks of one of the many gigantic trees, and as Itachi looked over, he detected the very slightest amount of movement. He shifted his position slightly to get a better view, and then spent a short while observing the ANBU team. Much like that other one, it did not move from its position. Itachi nodded to himself. This would make things easier. Withdrawing chakra from his eyes, he heaved a sigh of relief as his crimson eyes faded back to onyx, feeling the strain on his mind start to lessen.

"Are we finally about to get moving?" Kisame yawned, absent-mindedly playing with the bandage straps on his sword. "I'm about to fall asleep here."

Hizashi glanced over at Itachi. Raising a hand briefly, telling Hizashi to wait, Itachi closed his eyes and waited until his mind felt completely relaxed and free from the effects of the Sharingan.

"I'm ready." He nodded at the Hyuga.

"Finally." Kisame grinned, grabbing his sword and getting to his feet.

"Okay, here's the attack plan." Hizashi drew a small piece of parchment and a tiny chunk of charcoal from within his robes. Drawing a vague outline of the complex, he indicated the positions of the different groups of Jounin and ANBU. "Our first objective would be to take out the ANBU teams quietly and without alerting the Jounins below. Itachi, you and Kisame will handle the team here," He pointed at a minute circle drawn on the map, "While I take out the other one." Itachi nodded. Of their team, Hizashi was the only one who was really suited to taking on larger groups of enemies at once, due to his Byakugan and his style of fighting. Kisame twitched in impatience.

"Can we get going now?" He demanded. Hizashi glared at him, then sighed wearily and nodded. With a feral grin, the blue-skinned man was gone. Itachi frowned and quickly followed after him. Watching as the Uchiha faded rapidly out of sight, Hizashi turned around and started towards his assigned targets.

"Forgive me, Konoha." He murmured to himself as he dashed through the foliage. Then he forced the thoughts out of his mind, and focused on his objective. Masking his chakra, he silently moved behind one of the ANBU members, the one furthest away from his team, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hello," Hizashi said pleasantly, "You are within my field of Hakke."

-----

Moments later, all three of them were standing in front of the first set of metal doors within the asylum. The ANBU teams had been utterly obliterated, taken completely by surprise. The Jounins, although alerted to their presence, had scarcely enough time to defend themselves, much less sound off the alarm. Kisame nonchalantly kicked the body of one of the Jounins aside, flicking the blood off his sword as he did so. Then he glanced up at the door, whistling appreciatively at its size.

"Well, what now?" He asked.

"Leave this to me." Itachi responded, focusing a huge amount of chakra into his eyes. Suddenly realizing what the Uchiha was planning to do, Kisame and Hizashi quickly stepped back. Itachi's eyes flared open, and suddenly the doors exploded in a burst of black flame. 5 Jounins hurtled out from the chamber beyond, reacting quickly to the attack. A multitude of voices called out various jutsus, and soon the chamber was filled with flames, huge torrents of water, electricity and surging masses of earth. The 3 Akatsuki members separated, leaping out of the way of the jutsus.

Itachi dashed towards one of the Jounins with inhuman speed, slashing at him with a kunai. The Jounin barely managed to parry his first blow, and soon succumbed as Itachi continued attacking relentlessly. He rolled aside, his body torn and bleeding, summoning an earth dragon into existence. Itachi watched with cool detachment as the dragon flung itself at him, shrieking, then crouched low on the ground, springing forward and evading the dragon as it thundered over him. Going through hand seals faster than the eye could see, Itachi unleashed a huge fireball at the Jounin, who tried to dodge it. He was partially successful – the fireball did not kill him. He was badly burned and injured, however.

Kneeling on the floor, the Jounin watched as Itachi strolled casually through the smoke, right up to him.

"Who are you?" He spat. Itachi shrugged. Growling, the Jounin reached into one of the pouches hanging from his legs, withdrew a kunai, and flung it at Itachi as hard as it could. It was a mere act of defiance, and surprise showed on his face when the attack actually connected. A split second later, a huge explosion wiped the Jounin from existence.

"Kage Bunshin – Sai."

Kisame flung his sword into the midst of 2 Jounins, absorbing all the chakra that they had summoned for their jutsus. Momentarily disoriented, they watched numbly as Kisame smirked at them, his hands blurring as he went through a complicated series of hand seals. Water from the huge swamp outside churned and bubbled, and then it rushed into the chamber with crushing speed. As the wall of black water rushed forward, it morphed itself into 4 dragons and 4 sharks. The sharks ripped through the air with deadly accuracy, slicing through one of the Jounins. His partner leapt out of the way of the sharks, only to be cornered by the dragons. His screams filled the air as the dragons pummeled into him, pinning his crushed body to the walls.

Hizashi repelled all attacks directed at him with a Kaiten, one so powerful that his chakra seared and destroyed the floor beneath him. He stood still, his stance one of mockery and challenge, and the remaining 2 Jounins rushed at him. Weaving in and out of their attacks with ease, he slowly sealed their tenketsus, until finally they slumped to the floor, unable to draw any more chakra to aid them in battle. Itachi moved in, and took one of them out with a kunai through his throat. Hizashi slammed his palm into the chest of the last remaining Jounin, then released a burst of chakra that stopped the man's heart. He pushed the body aside.

"How many more levels are there before we reach the bottom? These guys are boring." Kisame glanced at Hizashi. The Hyuga activated his Byakugan briefly, then smirked at Kisame.

"I can't see the bottom."

Kisame groaned.

-----

A grueling hour and a half after they first initiated their attack, the trio finally managed to reach the bottom of the complex. Climbing down the stairs, they saw a long corridor stretching ahead of them, lit by flickering torches on the wall. Hizashi activated his Byakugan, then heaved a sigh of relief.

"There's nobody on this floor." Powerful as they were, fighting well over a hundred Jounin and ANBU had drained them significantly. None of them had managed to get this far unscathed. They proceeded cautiously down the corridor, arriving not at a metal door as they had seen throughout the complex, but instead they walked into a huge round chamber. A glistening and wavering crystal lattice stood in the middle, and all three recognized it immediately as a high-level barrier jutsu. They could not see what lay in the middle.

"So, how do we break this thing?" Kisame, as usual, was asking questions.

"All barriers have a weakness. However, since this barrier is particularly strong, we'll need an exceptionally powerful jutsu to strike its weak point." Hizashi answered, flicking his gaze to Itachi for an instant. Itachi understood immediately – Hizashi was referring to Amaterasu, the black flames. The Hyuga activated his Byakugan, and walked around the crystal structure, observing it carefully. Finally, he called Itachi over, and pointed at a point on the crystal wall.

Itachi focused his chakra into his eyes again, draining almost all of his remaining pool, and the crystal lattice collapsed in a brilliant shower of sparkles. He slumped to one knee, drained, too tired to do anything. But then he heard a gasp from Hizashi, and his head snapped up. He stared, eyes wide.

There was nothing within the crystal.

"Ah, I was wondering who had come." All three whipped around. A man stood before them, tall with long, chocolate brown hair that tumbled down to his shoulders. His dark eyes were cool, appraising, and his thin lips were twisted slightly in a tiny smile. His body was hidden in the depths of a ragged brown cloak.

"You! You're Himitsu Gensou!" Kisame exclaimed, shocked.

"Yes, that would be me." Gensou acknowledged with a nod. "And you're Hoshigake Kisame. That's Uchiha Itachi, and unless I'm very much mistaken, that's Hyuga Hizashi, who's supposed to be dead." He frowned slightly. "What business have you here that would require you to break into this asylum?"

Hizashi passed him a scroll, a letter written to Gensou from the leader of Akatsuki. Gensou read through it, then smiled.

"So you're here to recruit me into your organization?"

"Yes, that is correct. We had not expected you to have broken free of the barrier, however."

"Oh, that." Gensou waved a hand dismissively. "I broke out of the asylum a while ago."

"… What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. I escaped from this asylum a few days ago, with some help."

"How is that possible? There's no way to escape from the asylum without being detected by the guards."

"Simple, there were no guards by the time I made good my escape. They had all been slain."

"I find that hard to believe. We just fought our way down here through an enormous force of Jounins and ANBU." Gensou grinned at Hizashi.

"What you fought through, my dear friend, was but a mere illusion. Everything you saw, everyone you fought in this asylum was part of my genjutsu. It took me the better part of 4 days to set up a genjutsu of this magnitude, though." Hizashi stared at him, disbelieving. He had never before heard of a genjutsu that could fool both the Sharingan and Byakugan, nor one of such immense proportions. It was unthinkable.

"I can see from your expression that you don't believe me." Gensou scowled.

"You have to pardon me, but I find it hard to believe that such a powerful genjutsu actually exists."

"Just wait, the genjutsu should be unraveling itself soon. You destroyed the core of it, after all." Gensou pointed at the remains of the crystal.

As soon as his words were spoken, suddenly, the chamber around them wavered, and dissolved into nothingness. Once again they were standing outside, in the swamp, just a short distance away from the asylum. All their injuries faded away. It was as though they had never fought any of their battles, although they were drained.

"What the…" Kisame growled, looking around.

"Believe me now?" Gensou smirked. Hizashi was speechless. He knew that Gensou had not used any genjutsu on them – his chakra coils had remained inactive all throughout his speech. And that could only mean that he was telling the truth. That everything they had seen, every single ninja they had fought, had been nothing but illusion. It boggled the mind. "They don't call me the master of genjutsu for no reason, you know."

This man was dangerous. If his genjutsus were indeed this powerful, he could easily wipe out a large force of ninjas. All he would have to do was set up a genjutsu similar to this one, and catch his victims unawares. Once they had drained all their chakra fighting against illusionary foes, they would be fodder for real, breathing enemies.

Itachi was the first to recover from the shock. "You mentioned that you escaped with some outside help. Who was it?"

Gensou shuddered, and for a brief moment fear flashed across his eyes. "I didn't catch his name. But he was immensely powerful. From the time he set off the alarms on the first level, it took him only about 20 minutes to wipe out all the Jounins and ANBU within the fortress."

All 3 were shocked to the very core of their beings.

"Where is he now?" Itachi asked.

"He left after getting me out. Said that I was a 'man of talent' and didn't 'deserve to rot in such a place'. I decided to stay around here – once I had my genjutsu set up I would have freedom of movement since nobody would suspect that I had escaped. I had just finished setting up my genjutsu when you guys arrived."

They were silent. Somewhere, there was a man who was far more powerful than any of them. It was a horrifying thought.

"This is most intriguing. The leader would want to hear of this." Hizashi said thoughtfully after a moment of silence. "Let us return to the headquarters." He glanced at Gensou. "Are you coming with us?" The tone in his voice implied that Gensou didn't have a choice in the matter, despite the question. Gensou laughed.

"Sure, why not?"

-----

A/N: And that's the end of this chapter. Something about it bothers me though, so don't be surprised if it's replaced with a different one at some point. ;


End file.
